


mastering the art of just going with it

by ciitadel



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Bonding, Humor, M/M, Sharing a Bed, but with like my own spin on things, fake engagement, so yall know the movie the proposal, sokka just goes with it, yeah so this is that, zuko is dramatic and has terrible solutions to problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 61,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciitadel/pseuds/ciitadel
Summary: He was caught on one word that Sokka had said. Engaged. His mind latched onto that, and conjured up images of rings and a wedding. Marriage.Sokka kept talking, but Zuko couldn’t hear him over the blood roaring in his ears. If he had been engaged to marry an American citizen, he wouldn’t have to go back to Japan and wait to refile for another work visa. He could stay here, and never have to see his father again.Zuko’s gaze roamed over Sokka. He wasn’t married, or seeing anyone, Zuko knew that. Sokka always complained about being single, and the one time he had gone on a date in their past several years of working together, Sokka hadn’t shut up about it for a week. Zuko would know if Sokka was currently seeing anyone, and he wasn’t.There it was. His way out.aka Zuko and Sokka decide to get fake married so Zuko doesn't get deported, but they have to go through a weekend in Sokka's hometown pretending to be a couple for his family before they can do it
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (past), Sokka/Yue (past), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 152
Kudos: 1049
Collections: zukka fics I like





	1. sokka and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL IM WRITING FIC AGAIN
> 
> so the atla resurgence along with the new zukka revolution has led to a newfound source of writing inspo for me so after rewatching atla and slowly growing my obsession with it once more I have finally returned from my fic hiatus to present to you all... zukka 
> 
> so I love the proposal as a movie and when I was going through different things i could write for zukka, I remembered this movie existed and i was like holy shit it's perfect so here we are
> 
> I'm not sure if i'm gonna continue this but if i get a positive response i'll definitely keep going with it! hope you guys enjoy!

As Sokka’s alarm blared in his ear, he thought what he had thought every morning for the past three years since he had taken this damn job. 

_Fuck_ , he hated his job. 

After realizing his alarm was half an hour late in waking him up, leaping out of bed and taking the fastest shower of his entire damn life, and making it out his front door in record time, Sokka’s first coherent thought of the morning only solidified itself further. He sprinted down the bustling New York City street, weaving between business people in suits with a desperate agility that would make even an acrobat proud. 

The smell of roasting coffee beans washed over him as he shoved his way into the Starbucks. Ignoring the yelps of people he shoved past, Sokka rushed to the counter, where the barista was already setting out two steaming cups of coffee with his name on them. 

“Thanks, Jin!” Sokka said to the barista as he grabbed the warm cups and started to rush out the door. 

“You’re welcome! Tell your boss I said hi,” Jin said, smiling at him before turning back to the espresso machine. 

“Will do,” Sokka replied, giving Jin a salute and a grin as he backed out the door. 

Checking his phone with his half-free hand, his eyes ignored the text notification from his sister and instead focused on the time blaring across the top of his lock screen. Cursing under his breath, Sokka took off down the sidewalk at a light jog. The coffees sloshed inside their cups, and he silently prayed that he wasn’t going to get any coffee burns on his hands before he got into the office. 

The honking of taxi cabs echoed in his ears as he finally spotted the imposing black skyscraper that he was all too familiar with at this point. He hurried into the building, shoes echoing off the marbled floors as air conditioning blasted him in the face. Seeing an elevator packed with people just starting to close, Sokka sprinted over, slamming his body into the metal right before it shut completely. He winced as the metal door squeezed his chest, before retreating backwards and allowing him entrance. 

“Jesus christ,” a man muttered behind Sokka. While he was tempted to reply, Sokka just shot the guy a dirty look instead. 

By some miracle of miracles, Sokka found himself standing outside his boss’s office at exactly 9:00 am sharp. 

He was able to sense his boss’ arrival before he saw him. The workers in the cubicles that dominated the office space all started shuffling as they hurried back to their desks from where they had been chatting amicably before. Women slipped their high heels back on under their desks, men straightened their ties, and Sokka already knew the rapid typing he could hear on every computer was the office group chat warning each other about The Prince’s entry. 

_The prince has stepped off the warship!!_

_Omg already?? Is he early?_

_No it’s 9 am check your clock!_

_Does he look pissed_

_he always looks pissed r u kidding me_

_Ngl that new suit looks really good on him though_

_Ewwww I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that_

Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Sokka lifted his head right as his boss turned the corner, and came into view. 

Zuko. Nephew of the man who owned Jasmine Dragon Inc., a complete and utter asshole, and unfairly _hot_. 

As usual, Zuko’s face was etched into his permanent-seeming scowl. At first, Sokka thought it was the scar that made him look so angry all the time, but after seeing him smile _once_ a full year ago, Sokka had realized that no, he was just angry all the time. 

“Here’s your coffee,” Sokka said in way of greeting, holding the cup out towards Zuko. 

Without a word of thanks, Zuko snatched the coffee out of Sokka’s hand and stalked towards the office. Sokka followed suit, making sure to close the door behind them. 

Despite having worked there for years, Zuko’s office was sparsely decorated, at least in comparison to the other private offices Sokka had seen. He had a glass table desk with a large Mac computer perched on top, a potted jasmine plant that Sokka was 92% sure was fake, and a wall of traditional theater masks hanging on the wall to the right of his desk. The masks had always creeped Sokka out—especially the one that looked reminiscent of a blue demon—but they didn’t seem to unsettle Zuko in the slightest. 

Taking a long sip of the coffee, Zuko leaned back in his office chair and sighed at the taste. For a moment, he stared at the ceiling, while Sokka waited for him to be done with his ‘moment’ so he could debrief him on the day's appointments. 

After a moment, Zuko groaned and set the coffee down, dragging his hands over his face and running them through his hair. 

“Fuck, I’m tired,” he muttered, turning towards his computer and turning it on. 

“Fun night?” Sokka questioned, raising an eyebrow at his boss. In all honesty, if Zuko _had_ gotten laid the night before, Sokka would’ve choked on his own spit. He couldn’t imagine the man going out to a bar and hooking up with someone. Even though Zuko was only a year older than he was, it just seemed so… wrong for him. Like trying to imagine your grouchy forty-year old cousin get some. 

Zuko glared at Sokka, but there was no malice in it. “No, just shitty sleep. Like usual.” 

“Y’know, I hear weed is pretty good for sleep,” Sokka commented, smirking at Zuko. 

“Weed?” Zuko questioned, looking like he couldn’t tell if Sokka was joking or not. 

“Yeah! Makes you relax, go all loosey-goosey, you can just vibe~” _for the first time in your entire life, probably,_ Sokka added on silently. 

“You think I need to chill out?” Zuko scoffed. 

“I mean, you can be a little tightly wound sometimes.” 

“I am not tightly wound!” Zuko shouted, pushing out of his chair and just barely missing slamming his hands down on his coffee cup. 

Sokka raised a silent eyebrow at Zuko. “Have you ever considered trying yoga?” 

After realizing his hypocrisy, Zuko grumbled and sat back down. 

“Just… shut up and tell me my schedule,” Zuko muttered, folding his arms over his chest like a sullen teenager. 

Trying not to laugh, Sokka simply grinned to himself as he looked down at the notepad in his hand. 

“Well, uh, you have a meeting at noon, a conference call at one, a video call at three, and overview sessions all in between those,” Sokka explained, running down the list. 

Groaning, Zuko straightened up in his chair. “Alright. What’s the status on the photo editing for the logo remake?” 

“The photo editing company will send us the finished images by Friday night,” Sokka answered. 

“A little late,” Zuko scoffed. “I hope you didn’t have any plans this weekend. We need the reports completed and the new logo chosen by Monday, so-” 

“Um, actually,” Sokka cut in. “I kind of do have plans for this weekend.” 

Zuko blinked at Sokka for a few moments, unsure of how to respond. 

“What?” 

“You know! I already told you I’m taking the long weekend to go back home and visit my family,” Sokka explained. He could already tell by the look in Zuko’s eyes that this conversation wasn’t going to end in his favor. 

Zuko stared at him for a few more moments, before leaning back in his seat and shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but we have to get these things done so you’re going to have to cancel your trip.” 

Sokka blinked. He hadn’t been home in almost a year at this point. He had promised Katara he was going to be there for Gran-Gran’s birthday. 

“But-” 

“You can visit your family another weekend,” Zuko cut him off. “Now, we have another thing I need to take care of,” he continued. Pushing himself to his feet, he took another long sip of his coffee and carried it with him as he stalked out of the office. 

Sokka stared at him as he walked out, already able to imagine Katara’s angry shouting when he had to tell her the news. Still, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d have to cancel a trip home because something came up with work. So, sighing to himself, Sokka left the office as well. 

“Where are we going?” Sokka asked when they got out the door. 

“To see The Warden,” Zuko answered. 

Now, ‘The Warden’ was not the actual name of the man they were going to see. But while Zuko was largely disliked by the majority of the office workers (due to his temper and near-constant scowl), The Warden was despised. He was a cruel and incompetent man, holding a position rather close to Zuko’s own. He treated his job as if he were running a prison, berating any employee he saw if they weren’t up to his ‘standard’. Hence, The Warden. 

Following Zuko down the hall, Sokka slyly took out his phone and sent a warning text to the group chat that shit was about to go down. He heard the pings across the sea of cubicles, and struggled not to laugh as everyone scrambled to get a look at where Zuko and Sokka were heading. 

As of late, The Warden had been failing at his assigned tasks. While he had been at the company longer than Zuko had, it just seemed like he had stopped caring. As if he didn’t need to worry about losing his position, and that he could slack off. From what Sokka knew, The Warden had actually been transferred from Jasmine Dragon’s sister company in Japan—which Zuko’s father owned. More than anything, Sokka had a feeling that that was the real reason he was so cocky, and that was also why Zuko had always disliked The Warden so much. 

Zuko pushed open the door to The Warden’s office, and like usual Sokka wondered where the hell this guy got his sense of decorating from. All black furniture, save for a red, flame tapestry behind his desk? It was stupidly edgy, and Sokka found it ridiculous for a man as old as The Warden was. 

“Ah, the crown prince and his liege,” The Warden greeted, the mocking obvious in his tone. “What can I do you for, Zuko?” 

“I need to speak with you about the Jeong Jeong situation,” Zuko began, folding his hands behind his back. 

The Warden scoffed. “Jeong Jeong? I told you, I couldn’t get that crazy old coot to agree to an interview no matter how much I offered him!” 

“Is that so?” Zuko questioned. 

“Yes, it is. That bastard would rather just hide in his hut in the middle of goddamn nowhere until he dies.” 

“Alright, well then tell me,” Zuko began, stepping up to the edge of The Warden’s desk, “how was I able to get him to agree to an interview when I called him this morning?” 

The Warden’s eyes widened. “Y-You did?! That’s impossible!” 

“He may be a crazy old coot, but you forget he’s a friend of my uncle’s,” Zuko pointed out. “You didn’t even call him, did you?” 

“Of course I did! Don’t be ridiculous!” The Warden argued, though Sokka could see sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. 

“Sure you did,” Zuko muttered, rolling his eyes. “Look, you haven’t done shit here in the past three months. You pretend to do work, but I know you’re not actually turning up any results. All you do is sit on your fat ass all day, getting takeout and looking up strip clubs to cheat on your wife at. So I’m done giving you second chances.” The Warden’s eyes widened further as he realized what Zuko was about to say, but Zuko barreled on without giving him a chance to interrupt. 

“I’m firing you. I’ll give you two months to find a new job, that way you can tell everyone that you left willingly, and that’s only at the request of my uncle,” Zuko explained, turning to leave the office. 

“Wh- you can’t do that to me! I’ll report back to your father, and he won’t be happy to hear about this!” The Warden shouted as Zuko stepped through the doorway out of the room. 

“Good thing this isn’t his company then, is it?” Zuko calmly replied. Sokka followed Zuko down the hall back towards his own office. He could hear The Warden pacing in his office behind them, and Sokka did a mental count down as the meltdown he knew was coming approached. 

Then, 

“YOU SPOILED LITTLE BRAT!” 

“There it is,” Zuko muttered under his breath, sighing as he turned around to face The Warden. 

They were now in the middle of the sea of cubicles, with The Warden standing outside his office shooting daggers at Zuko with his eyes, while Zuko only scowled at him in return. 

“You think you can fire me? That you’re more important than I am? I hate to break it to you, you little shit, but the only reason you got this job is because Ozai was so sick of seeing your ugly face in Japan, he had you sent away!” The Warden yelled, ignoring the stares of the many employees watching them. Storming up to the two of them, The Warden leaned towards Zuko. “How does it feel to be the family disappointment? Always playing second best to your little sister.”

To Sokka’s surprise, Zuko _winced_. 

“Shut up,” Zuko hissed through his teeth. He was clenching his fists, and Sokka set his coffee and notepad down, knowing this was likely about to get ugly. 

“That’s gotta sting, doesn’t it? Ozai told me once that while your sister was born lucky, you were just lucky to be born.” 

And this is what made Zuko snap. 

He lunged at The Warden, and Sokka barely reached forward to grab him and yank him backwards before he could send his fist into the man’s face. 

“You say that about me again, I DARE YOU!” Zuko shouted, fighting against Sokka’s hold. 

“Zuko stop it!” Sokka yelled, forcibly dragging Zuko backwards. 

“Yeah Zuko, you wouldn’t want to give Iroh a reason to fire you, would you?” The Warden taunted. 

Even with Zuko continuing to struggle in his grip, Sokka managed to force the man back into his office, slamming the door behind them. He could see everyone in the cubicles gaping at them through the glass windows, so Sokka shut the blinds and hurried towards the phone on Zuko’s desk. He dialed a number and held the phone up to his ear, watching Zuko to make sure he didn’t try to burst out again and punch The Warden in the face. 

“Yeah security? We need you to escort someone out. Office number 347.” Sokka laughed at the other man on the line. “Yup, The Warden. Bastard finally got fired and he’s not taking it well.” Another chuckle. “Thanks Kevin, talk to you later.” 

Hanging up, Sokka sighed and turned to where Zuko had settled himself in a chair in front of his own desk. His head was in his hands, and he was twisting his fingers so tightly in his hair, Sokka could see his knuckles turning white. 

“Zuko,” Sokka started out, folding his arms across his chest, “we’ve talked about this, dude. You can’t try to punch everyone who shit talks you.” 

“This was different,” Zuko grumbled. “He knew exactly what he was saying to me. He was trying to get me pissed off.” 

Sokka thought about The Warden’s words again. _your sister was born lucky, you were just lucky to be born._ That had really seemed to set Zuko off, and honestly, Sokka didn’t blame him. 

But still, someone had to be the level-headed one around here. And clearly it wasn’t going to be Zuko. 

“I get that, but I can’t keep physically restraining you from beating an old man up. He was right. If I had let go of you and you had punched the shit out of him, Iroh would have to fire you.” 

At this, Zuko deflated. 

“...I know,” he mumbled. 

While a part of Sokka wanted to comfort Zuko, he also didn’t really have any idea how to. It was so rare that Zuko was visibly upset in a way other than angry, Sokka didn’t know how to react. And yet, Zuko seemed very upset by this. It was unusual to say the least. 

Then, in a beautiful moment of deus ex machina, the phone rang and saved Sokka from an extremely awkward pep talk attempt. 

“Zuko’s office, this is his assistant speaking,” Sokka answered as he picked up the phone. 

“Hello Sokka? Iroh would like Zuko to come up to his office as soon as possible,” Iroh’s assistant told him. 

Shit. He must’ve heard about the incident with The Warden. 

“Alright, I’ll let him know.” 

Hanging up, Sokka turned back to Zuko, who was still sulking in the chair. 

“Your uncle wants you to go up to his office right now,” Sokka explained. 

“Shit,” Zuko cursed. “Is it about what just happened?” 

Sokka shrugged. “I dunno, his assistant didn’t give me any details. Just to come up immediately.” 

Frowning, Zuko sighed and got to his feet. “Alright. Come get me in five minutes with some urgent report or another, I’m not in the mood to get a lecture about my feelings right now,” Zuko grumbled as he made his way towards the door. 

“Will do,” Sokka quipped. 

Giving him one last nod, Zuko left the office, and Sokka let out a sigh of relief as he began to rub his already-sore arms. God, Zuko was annoyingly strong. That was going to hurt tomorrow for sure.

🜲 🜲

The marble floor clicked under Zuko’s shoes as he made his way towards the elevator. His heart rate had finally gone down after his argument with The Warden, but that didn’t mean he was no longer upset about what had happened.

The Warden had no right to speak to him like that, let alone in front of the entire company. Zuko had offered him an out. He had given him the opportunity to find a new job, that way he wouldn’t be humiliated and could leave the company with his head held high. But of course, the bastard had to get upset. And _of course_ he had to bring Zuko’s father into this. 

Zuko knew from the start that allowing The Warden to transfer from his father’s company in Japan to Jasmine Dragon Inc. was a bad idea. It was obvious it had just been a ploy from Ozai to get someone to keep an eye on Zuko, and to ensure he wasn’t making a mockery of the family name. But Uncle hadn’t wanted to stir up trouble with his younger brother, and so Iroh had allowed The Warden to work at the company. 

It didn’t matter now, because he was gone. But Zuko wasn’t looking forward to the lecture he was going to get for nearly punching the shit out of the guy, despite the fact that he totally deserved it. 

The elevator dinged, and Zuko stepped off onto the highest floor of the building. The receptionist nodded at Zuko as he made his way past towards where his Uncle’s office was located. There were no cubicles up here, only a few scattered offices for the highest executives at Iroh’s company. 

He reached the black door emblazoned with the dragon symbol on the front. After taking a deep breath to steady himself, Zuko knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” his uncle’s voice called. 

Opening the door, Zuko stepped inside and was immediately greeted with the delicate scent of jasmine tea. Uncle was standing by his desk, a tray laid out in front of him with three small cups and a steaming pot of tea. Beside Uncle, his son, Lu Ten, was leaning against the desk and helping Iroh pour the tea. 

“Oh, Zuko,” Uncle greeted, stepping forward to wrap Zuko in a warm hug. Zuko hugged his uncle back, breathing in the pleasant floral scent that always seemed to cling to his uncle’s clothes. 

“Hi Uncle,” Zuko murmured, stepping back after a moment. He looked up towards his cousin, and nodded at Lu Ten. “You’re back from your trip, Lu Ten?” 

“Yes, I just got back last night,” Lu Ten answered, smiling at Zuko. “Negotiations with the Korean branch were tricky, but I was able to find a solution that benefited us all.” 

“My son is turning out to be a wonderful negotiator,” Uncle said proudly, beaming at Lu Ten. 

Zuko shifted uncomfortably on his feet, remembering how terribly he messed up the last negotiation he attended. “It sure seems like it,” he said quietly. A moment of silence hung over the room, and when it was clear Uncle wasn't’ going to say anything more, Zuko looked back up. “So you wanted to see me?” 

Iroh’s relaxed expression hardened, and he moved back to the tea tray before picking up a cup. “Yes. Here, have some tea,” he said, offering the cup to Zuko. 

Taking the tea, Zuko settled himself in the chair on the other side of his uncle’s desk, and took a sip. “Look, if this is about The Warden, I already know. I didn’t mean to let things get out of hand-” 

“The Warden?” Iroh questioned as he sat down in his own seat, with Lu Ten choosing to remain standing. “What about him?” 

Zuko blinked. “I just… I fired him. A few minutes ago,” Zuko said dumbly. He had been convinced this had to be why Uncle called him into his office so suddenly. There would be no reason for him to be pulled up here without some advance notice otherwise. 

“Oh, I wasn’t aware of that,” Uncle replied, folding his hands in front of him. 

“Then why am I here if that’s not what you wanted to talk to me about?” Zuko asked, a wave of nervousness washing over him. 

Lu Ten looked away from Zuko and at the ground, while Uncle sighed. 

“Zuko, were you aware that you didn’t file your visa renewal paperwork?” Uncle asked, sounding somber. 

The realization was like a bucket of cold water being splashed onto him. Zuko heard Sokka’s voice in his head from a conversation they had had last week. 

_Zuko, the immigration office keeps calling. You’re late on the deadline for your visa renewal._

That week had been an insanely busy week. Zuko had just thought if he could get through that, he could take care of the visa paperwork this week. But of course, he forgot. 

“I just got caught up in some stuff,” Zuko explained. “It’s fine, I’ll pay any late fees and get it all squared away today.” 

Lu Ten and Uncle’s identical frowns told Zuko it wasn’t going to be as easy as that. 

“Zuko, you were already past due on the filing,” Lu Ten said softly. “It’s too late now. The immigration office sent us a notice for your deportation today.” 

Zuko’s stomach dropped. 

“I’m being… deported?” Zuko asked, turning his gaze to his uncle. 

“I’m sorry, Zuko. There’s nothing we can do,” his uncle apologized, meeting Zuko’s eyes. “You’ll be able to reapply for a new visa, but you have to stay in Japan for at least a year. In the meantime, The Warden is going to be rehired and take over your former position.” 

A year. He had to go back to Japan for a year. He would have to go back to where his father was. Where Azula was. He hadn’t seen his father or his sister in years. 

His heart began to race in his ears. He couldn’t go back. Not again. He had finally gotten out and made a new life for himself. After all this time, he had finally managed to escape his father’s oppressive grip. But now he was going to have to go back for a _year._

His hands started shaking, and Zuko felt like he was going to throw up. 

“Uncle, please, there has to be something you can do!” Zuko pleaded, leaping to his feet. 

His uncle gave him a sad look, and stood up to walk around the desk, and place his hands on Zuko’s shoulder. 

“I’m so sorry, my boy. It will only be a year, then you will be welcome back here with open arms.” 

Zuko was drowning. This had to be a nightmare. This morning when he’d woken up, he thought his biggest problem of the day was going to be dealing with The Warden. That seemed like nothing in comparison to this. 

“I-” 

Suddenly, the door to the office opened, and the three men all turned their heads towards the intruder. 

Sokka stood in the doorway, face flushed as he saw the half-hug Uncle had Zuko in. Distantly, Zuko remembered telling Sokka to come rescue him from the meeting in five minutes. 

“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” Sokka stammered, looking uncomfortable with all the attention on him. “Zuko, I just wanted to let you know that Jeong Jeong called again. I told him that you were currently engaged in something else, but it seemed like he really wanted to talk to you…” Sokka’s voice faded to the background as Zuko’s mind began to race. 

He was caught on one word that Sokka had said. Engaged. His mind latched onto that, and conjured up images of rings and a wedding. Marriage. 

Sokka kept talking, but Zuko couldn’t hear him over the blood roaring in his ears. If he had been engaged to marry an American citizen, he wouldn’t have to go back to Japan and wait to refile for another work visa. He could stay here, and never have to see his father again. 

Zuko’s gaze roamed over Sokka. He wasn’t married, or seeing anyone, Zuko knew that. Sokka always complained about being single, and the one time he had gone on a date in their past several years of working together, Sokka hadn’t shut up about it for a week. Zuko would know if Sokka was currently seeing anyone, and he wasn’t. 

Not to mention, Sokka was an American citizen. 

Zuko didn’t even realize he was speaking until he was halfway through his sentence. 

“A-Actually Uncle,” Zuko began after Sokka had finished talking. “I have some news that might be, um, relevant to our situation.” 

Sokka frowned and mouthed a ‘should I go?’, to which Zuko shook his head and jerked his chin for Sokka to get over to him. Sokka gave him a confused look, but shut the door behind him and made his way to stand beside Zuko. 

“Oh? What is it?” Uncle asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Fuck. How was he going to do this? Sokka was going to freak out the second he said they were engaged. 

He just had to go for it. There was no time to pull Sokka out of the room and explain things. 

“I am… engaged to someone,” Zuko said, the words uncomfortable in his mouth. 

Beside him, Sokka shot him a shocked look, while Uncle and Lu Ten both looked equally surprised. 

“Really? I wasn’t even aware you were seeing someone,” Uncle commented. “Who is it?” 

Shit. The moment of truth. Zuko gave Sokka a desperate side eye, and silently prayed Sokka would just play along. 

In as uncomfortable of a fashion as Zuko’s awkwardness could manage, he slung an arm over Sokka’s shoulders. “We uh… Sokka and me… we’re… getting married.” 

Sokka immediately opened his mouth to protest, but Zuko shot him another desperate look. After several years of working together, Zuko prayed that Sokka could read his expression well enough to know that he needed to just go along with it. 

Glancing wildly between Zuko and Iroh, Sokka let his mouth hang open for another moment, before clenching his jaw and letting his gaze fall to the ground. 

“Married! Yeah!” Sokka said in a painfully forced way, wrapping his own arm around Zuko’s waist. 

Silently, Zuko thanked every god he could think of that Sokka was able to read him so well. 

Lu Ten and Uncle looked between the two men. 

“Isn’t he your assistant?” Lu Ten inquired, folding his arms across his chest. 

Zuko nodded. “Yeah, he is. We’ve been keeping things on the down low because of, uh, not wanting people to think I’m playing favorites or anything in the office. Anyway, it’s not the first time one of us would’ve fallen for our, uh, assistants. Right Lu Ten?” 

At the reminder of his brief tryst with his assistant from a year prior, Lu Ten flushed dark red and ducked his face. Uncle turned around to give Lu Ten a questioning look, but Lu Ten pretended to be very focused on his tea. 

After a moment, Uncle turned back to look at Zuko and Sokka—who still had their arms uncomfortably around each other—again. He glanced between the two of them, a slow and knowing smile growing across his face. 

“Ah, I see,” he said, the tone of his voice making it obvious he knew exactly what Zuko’s plan was. “Congratulations, Zuko. I’m very happy for you. Just make sure to fill out the paperwork as soon as possible.” 

At that, a weight lifted off his chest. It worked. Holy shit. 

“Thank you, Uncle. We’ll, uh, go to the immigration office right now,” Zuko stammered, already steering Sokka out of the office. 

He waved goodbye to his uncle and Lu Ten, and slammed the office door behind them. Zuko immediately stepped away from Sokka, and Sokka yanked his hand away from Zuko’s waist. 

“What the-” 

Zuko slammed a hand over Sokka’s mouth. “Just wait. I’ll explain everything outside,” Zuko whispered. Sokka frowned and shoved Zuko’s hand away from his face, and Zuko gestured for Sokka to follow him. 

The silent walk to the elevators, and the accompanying elevator ride down to the first floor was nearly unbearable. Sokka kept shooting Zuko incredulous glances every few seconds, and seemed like he was mentally debating whether to punch Zuko or not. To be fair, Zuko didn’t blame him. But he couldn’t risk explaining what had just happened inside the building where someone could overhear them. 

By the time they stepped outside the front doors of the skyscraper, the cool wind blew the nervous sweat off of Zuko’s forehead, and he breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Okay, what the FUCK was that?!” Sokka demanded, placing his hands on his hips as he stood in front of Zuko. 

Shit. Okay. Time to explain that to his assistant that he was going to use him to commit immigration fraud. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? 

“Look, I forgot to get that visa paperwork filed and I’m getting deported back to Japan,” Zuko explained in a rush. “If that happens, I can’t come back to the US for a full year. So in order to stay here, I need to get married to someone for a marriage visa. That’s where you come in.” 

Sokka’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. 

“Are you KIDDING ME?!” Sokka shouted. “You think that you can just be like ‘Sokka I’m gonna use you to get a marriage visa’ and think I’m just gonna go with that?!” 

“I know it’s not ideal,” Zuko hissed, straightening up and stepping forward so he was eye to eye with Sokka. “But if I get deported, they’re gonna replace me with The Warden. And you know just as well as I do that that guy hates you, and the second he gets my position, you are gonna get sacked.” 

Sokka blinked, and took a step back. That was the ticket. 

“Trust me, if I’m not here, we both have stuff to lose,” Zuko continued. “You’ve been working with me for three years now, all in the hope that you’ll eventually work your way up and pitch your product ideas to my Uncle. Now I have no problem with helping you with that goal, but if I’m in Japan, I can’t do that, you get it?” 

Taking a breath, Sokka frowned and looked to the ground. Clearly he knew Zuko was right, but he still didn’t seem happy. 

“This is fraud though, Zuko. I don’t know if my job is really worth getting my ass thrown in jail!” Sokka argued. 

“Oh please, we can pretend to be a couple well enough to fool some immigration agents, don’t you think?” Zuko challenged. 

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “What’s my star sign?” 

Zuko blinked. “I… I don’t know star signs, okay! Why would they even ask something like that!” 

“Because we’re supposed to know all about each other? Because we’re getting married?!” Sokka yelled, gesturing wildly with his hands. 

“I can learn!” Zuko protested. 

Sokka stared at Zuko for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. 

“No, Zuko. I’m sorry. I can’t risk something this major just to help you keep your job.” 

At that, Zuko deflated. His shoulders sagged, and the gut-wrenching feeling returned full force as he imagined getting off the plane, only to see his father and Azula waiting for him. 

“What are you so upset about anyway? It’s not like you’ll be out of a job. You’ll be able to work for your father’s company until you come back here,” Sokka reasoned after noticing how upset Zuko seemed. 

To Sokka, Zuko just didn’t want to leave the US out of convenience. He had no clue. 

Swallowing his pride, Zuko took a deep breath and placed his hands on Sokka’s shoulders. 

“You don’t understand, I can’t go back to Japan, Sokka,” Zuko said, his voice deadly serious as he locked eyes with Sokka. “I just _can’t._ Please. I’m begging you, Sokka. I need you to help me with this because I cannot go back there.” 

At this, Sokka’s expression changed from annoyed, to something unreadable. His brows were pinched with worry, but there was something else there Zuko couldn’t identify. He looked over Zuko’s face, the silence stretching between them as he thought. 

After a moment, Sokka sighed. 

“Fine. I’ll marry you,” he relented. 

A weight lifted from Zuko’s chest, and he let his hands drop from Sokka’s shoulders before taking a step back. 

“Thank you,” Zuko breathed. 

“On a few conditions,” Sokka continued, holding a finger up. 

Zuko’s breath caught in his throat as he realized Sokka could just about demand anything in this moment and Zuko would basically be forced to give it to him. 

“Uh, yeah, what is it?” Zuko asked. 

“One,” Sokka began, “once we get this all settled, you are going to get me a meeting with your uncle.” 

Dammit. Zuko figured that was going to be what Sokka asked for first. 

“Fine, I can swing that,” Zuko muttered. 

“Two, you are going to give me the promotion that I should’ve gotten a year ago,” Sokka continued. 

Zuko cursed under his breath. Sokka was right of course. He was long overdue for a promotion. But as stupid as it was to admit, Zuko didn’t like opening his life up to new people, and if he promoted Sokka he would have to find a new assistant. He didn’t like the idea of having to give control of his entire work life to a complete stranger, it made him anxious just to think about. He trusted Sokka, but it was hard-earned trust. Still, he couldn’t deny what Sokka had said. Of course he raised Sokka’s pay appropriately for the amount of time he had worked there, but still. Zuko knew Sokka deserved a higher position. 

“Okay, fine,” Zuko muttered. “You’ll get your meeting and your promotion.” 

Sokka’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, seriously?” A startled laugh escaped him. “Holy shit! I thought you were gonna say no and I’d have to make up some dramatic break up story to tell your uncle.” 

“Are there any more conditions?” Zuko asked, ready for this discussion to be over with. 

“Oh, uh,” Sokka paused, scratching his chin as he thought. Slowly, a large grin grew across his face, and Zuko internally groaned as he realized the mistake he’d just made. 

Leaning in close, Sokka smirked at Zuko and poked him in the chest. 

“You are going to buy me a ring!” Sokka announced. 

Zuko’s response was immediate. 

“No way.” 

“Aw c’mon!” Sokka whined, draping himself over Zuko. “You can’t propose to a boy without a ring! Besides, no one would believe our engagement was real unless you gave me _something_. Everyone knows I love jewelry!” 

Rolling his eyes, Zuko ignored Sokka and started walking to the street so he could wave down a cab. 

“Okay, what if it doesn’t have to be a ring. Maybe it can just be, like, a cool silver bracelet or something?” Sokka continued, waiting on the edge of the street while Zuko held his hand out for a cab. “Or maybe a pair of earrings! I have my ears pierced, you know. I don’t wear jewelry in them a lot, but with the right pair who knows?” 

As they climbed into the cab, Sokka still rambling away about jewelry, Zuko told the driver to go to the immigration office and leaned back in his seat. 

He was going to regret this for sure.

🜲 🜲

The ride to the immigration office didn’t take long. Sokka spent the whole time pestering Zuko about buying him jewelry, much to Zuko’s obvious annoyance. In truth, Sokka didn’t actually care about getting jewelry from Zuko. He just wanted to take advantage of the fact that Zuko now owed him big time, making it so Sokka could bug the shit out of him if he wanted, and Zuko couldn’t do anything about it.

He shut up once they climbed out of the cab. The two men made their way into the immigration building, and Sokka had to rush to keep up with Zuko’s fast pace as they pushed their way through the crowds of people. While walking, Zuko grabbed some papers out of a bin and shoved them towards Sokka. Looking at the top, Sokka saw they were applications for marriage visas, and paused so he could fill them out. 

When he glanced up from the paper for a brief moment though, he could see Zuko had already left him behind, and scurried to keep up with him. 

“H-Hey Zuko! I think we have to wait in this line!” Sokka whisper-shouted to his boss as they shouldered through the crowded room. 

“We’re in a rush,” Zuko snapped. Suddenly, there was a hand wrapping around Sokka’s wrist, and Sokka was being dragged through the room as Zuko sped towards the front. 

Once they were at the windows, Sokka rushed to fill out the applications until an attendant opened up. As soon as the previous person had walked away, Zuko darted over to the window, ignoring the loud complaint from the woman who had been at the front of the line they hadn’t stood in. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” The man behind the desk asked in a dead voice. 

“We’re here to apply for a marriage visa,” Zuko said, grabbing the papers Sokka had and putting them down on the counter. 

The man raised an eyebrow at the two of them, and Sokka was unsure if it was because they were both men, or if it was because neither of them were white so he wasn’t sure which one of them was the American citizen. Honestly, it could’ve been both. 

But the man still took the papers from Zuko, and began to look over them. After a moment of reading over the names, he hummed to himself and typed something into his computer. His eyebrows raised in surprise, and he typed a few more things in before turning back to the two of them. 

“I’m going to need you both to come with me,” the man said. He stood up from his desk and walked around towards a door leading into the back, and gestured for the two of them to follow. Ignoring the racing of his heart at how sketchy this was, Sokka followed the man into the back, with Zuko right on his heels. 

The man led them down a maze of offices and cubicles, all set in a dreary world of grey. While Sokka definitely didn’t like the office building he worked in, suddenly he was very grateful he worked there and not in a place like this. Whereas his office building was a warm place where between the stressful hours you could laugh and joke with your coworkers, this place just looked like a wannabe prison cell. Sokka felt like if you tried to talk to a coworker here, you’d be met with a pair of void black eyes. 

Soon, the man stopped in front of a completely inconspicuous office. No label on the door. Practically the definition of generic. 

“Wait here, an agent will come speak with you shortly,” the man said. 

Before Sokka or Zuko could question him, he slammed the door shut, leaving the two of them alone. 

“Okay, is it just me, or does this place give you the creeps?” Sokka asked, glancing nervously around the room. 

“It’s just an office,” Zuko shrugged. 

“But these people are weird! You don’t think it’s odd that none of them would tell us why we were being brought back here?” Sokka asked, his nerves rising with every passing second. Maybe they had already suspected Zuko might try to fake a marriage to stay in the country. Maybe they were going to be subjected to questioning about their relationship right now. If that was the case, they would be screwed for sure. 

“I’m sure it’s fine, Sokka,” Zuko sighed, folding his arms across his chest. “Seriously, relax. You look like you’re about to jump out of your skin.” 

“Well sorry I’m a bit nervous over the fact that I’m literally committing-” Suddenly, Zuko’s hand slapped over Sokka’s mouth, silencing him. Putting a finger to his lips, Zuko glanced around the room, and it took Sokka a moment to realize that there could be cameras or audio listening devices in here. 

A few tense moments of silence passed. The ticking of the clock was like a cymbal crashing compared to the dead quiet. Then, Zuko dropped his hand and sighed. Sagging into his seat, Sokka vowed to keep his mouth shut from now on until they were out of here. 

Thankfully, Sokka didn’t have to wait long, because just then the door swung open behind them both. 

The man who made his way inside did not seem like the type of man you’d expect to work in an immigration office. In fact, if anything, he looked like the kind of guy you’d see in the military. A high-ranking commander with a permanent frown etched onto his face, and some rather _impressive_ sideburns. He didn’t look at either of them as he made his way inside, instead keeping his eyes on the papers in his hands as he made his way to his desk. 

Beside him, Zuko gasped sharply right as the man sat down in the desk across from them. 

“Zhao?!” Zuko hissed, physically recoiling in his seat. 

The man—Zhao apparently—lifted an eyebrow, before finally looking up to meet the duo’s gazes. 

Sokka watched him latch onto Zuko’s face, and he smirked. 

“Well well well, I guess I forgot to read the name on the file,” Zhao said, folding his hands in front of him. “Isn’t this a funny coincidence? Why, I haven’t seen you in years, Zuko.” 

“Wait, you know this guy?” Sokka asked, whipping his head around to look at Zuko. 

Zuko was giving Zhao a more hateful glare than Sokka had ever seen him give anyone before, and that was saying something because Zuko was known for his glaring. He didn’t respond to Sokka, and instead kept his hateful gaze trained on the man in front of him. 

“Zhao, what the hell are you doing here?” 

Zhao laughed, but it wasn’t a relaxed sound. “Isn’t it obvious? This is my job now.” 

“What happened to all the years you spent groveling under my father at his company?” Zuko challenged. 

At this, Zhao’s relaxed expression morphed into his own scowl. 

“You mess up one goddamn fishing deal with some stupid Northern trading company and suddenly you’re thrown out on your ass,” Zhao grumbled, hand clenching into a fist over the files he had on his desk. 

Although Sokka was pretty sure Zhao didn’t notice it, he didn’t miss the way Zuko’s shoulders relaxed at this information. 

“So you got canned?” Zuko questioned, now looking like he was on the verge of laughing. 

“Yes, unfortunately I got ‘canned’. So I returned to the US and got a job here,” Zhao replied, the bitterness obvious in his voice. 

“You don’t work for my father at all anymore?” Zuko continued. 

Zhao shook his head. “No. He’s refused to even speak to me since my… mistake.” 

Snorting, Zuko leaned back in his chair. “Sounds like him.” 

“Yes, well, Ozai has always been a ruthless businessman as we know,” Zhao muttered. “Anyway, I was informed you’re here to file for a marriage visa?” 

Suddenly, weird run-in aside, they were jolted back into the reason they were here in the first place. Sokka was suddenly very aware of the fact that they had to act like a couple, and considering this guy seemed to be at least semi-familiar with Zuko, that might be harder to do than if they were dealing with a complete stranger. 

“Uh, yes, we are,” Zuko stammered, straightening back up in his chair. “This is Sokka, my… partner.” 

Zhao raised an eyebrow and looked between the two of them. Sokka tried to grin, but it was obvious it was forced. He just hoped it came off as natural nerves instead of something more. 

“You do realize how this looks, right?” Zhao asked. “You receive a deportation notice, and then the same day you walk in here filing for a marriage visa?” 

Zuko’s eyes widened, and Sokka could practically hear the wheels turning in his head. Shit. Zhao was right, that was suspicious as hell. They had to find a way to explain that. 

Wait, Sokka knew how to handle this. 

“Yeah, that’s my bad,” Sokka jumped in, laughing sheepishly. “I was supposed to file the paperwork weeks ago, but we’ve both been so swamped at work, I just totally blanked. I gotta admit, I may have started slacking off a bit as his assistant since we started dating.” 

Now this seemed to pique Zhao’s interest. 

“You work as Zuko’s assistant? I suspect that kind of relationship between an assistant and his boss might make some of your coworkers question things.” 

“Yeah, it kinda does. So we’ve been keeping things on the down low lately, especially because I have this big promotion coming up soon and I don’t want people to think he was just playing favorites with me,” Sokka explained, grinning innocently at Zuko. 

Zuko glared at him, and Sokka reached over to take his hand just to rub it in. He expected Zuko to pull away, but when he didn’t, Sokka suddenly had to deal with the fact that he was literally _holding Zuko’s hand_. 

Well, at least his hands were warm. 

“So no one knows about your relationship?” Zhao continued. 

“Well, we told my uncle and Lu Ten earlier today,” Zuko jumped in. “Otherwise, no.” 

“What about your parents? Do they know about this secret love of yours?” Zhao pressed further, eyes darting over their intertwined hands resting on the arm of Zuko’s chair. 

“You know I haven’t spoken to my father in years, Zhao,” Zuko answered quickly. He squeezed Sokka’s hand briefly, and although Sokka was sure it was just a reflex, it still startled his heart into skipping a beat. 

“Fair enough I suppose, though I suspect he’ll find out sooner or later,” Zhao commented, before turning to look over to Sokka. “What about you, Sokka? Do your parents know of your relationship?” 

“Well, uh, no,” Sokka stammered. Everything had happened so fast, he hadn’t even thought about the fact that he was probably going to have to tell his family that he was getting married. Shit. That was going to be rough when him and Zuko got divorced after their required time was up. 

But then, as he was struggling to figure out a way to answer Zhao without sounding suspicious as hell, his mind flashed back to this morning, and his cancelled trip. 

Never mind. He knew what he was going to do. 

“But!” Sokka continued on, “this weekend is my Gran-Gran’s 90th birthday, and we were already planning on going back to my hometown to break the news to everyone.” 

Beside him, he felt Zuko jerk, and when he turned to grin at his fiance he could see Zuko was seething. 

“...yes,” Zuko hissed through clenched teeth. “That’s the plan. To go back to Sokka’s hometown and tell everyone the news.” 

“And where is it that you two are going?” 

Zuko glanced at Sokka, his eyes screaming ‘help me!’ as Zhao waited for one of them to answer the question. 

“Seward!” Sokka answered cheerfully. 

“Yeah, Seward,” Zuko parroted. 

“Seward, Alaska,” Sokka continued, squeezing Zuko’s hand once more. 

Eyes widening, all the color drained from Zuko’s face. 

Ha. Take that, bastard. That’ll teach him to take away Sokka’s vacation days. 

“A-Alaska,” he stammered, still parroting Sokka. 

Once again, Zhao looked between the two men, his gaze dripping with suspicion. The air felt heavy as Zhao scrutinized each of their expressions, and Sokka was convinced he was seeing right through them. 

“Alright, I hope you both have fun on your trip. I just have one last question for you, Sokka,” Zhao said, shifting to look directly at him. 

Sokka gulped. “Uh, yeah?” 

“You wouldn’t happen to be marrying Zuko just so that he can stay in the country, and thereby committing fraud, would you?” 

In that moment, Sokka was totally and completely convinced his heart stopped beating. Not only was that exactly what they were doing, but Zhao was also just plain terrifying. 

It took a few painstaking moments for Sokka to remember how to use his mouth. 

“Wh-no way! Are you crazy? Nope, no siree! I love my Zuko very much!” Sokka crooned, leaning over to rest a head on Zuko’s shoulder, despite his internal desire to gag. 

“Well, that’s good,” Zhao said, smirking to himself. “Because if you were, you could be fined up to $250,000, and get yourself up to five years in federal prison.”

...well fuck. 

Sokka blinked, mind going blank as the numbers bounced around his head. 5 years… $250,000… federal prison… 

While objectively, Sokka had known that committing a sham marriage could get himself in some serious trouble with the law, he hadn’t actually known the specific consequences that would result if he and Zuko got caught. And while thinking to himself that he _might_ get thrown in jail for this is one thing, knowing that he was facing 5 years in federal prison was a whole other ball game. 

“Unless there’s something you want to tell me?” Zhao asked, noticing Sokka’s nervousness. 

He could tell him. Sokka could just say fuck it to this entire thing right here, right now. Zhao seemed to be offering him an out. He could just admit the whole thing right now, Zuko would go back to Japan, and Sokka would get to go back to his normal life—sans federal prison. 

Glancing to Zuko, Sokka paused when he noticed the look in Zuko’s eyes. Just like before, Zuko was fixating on him with that desperation that Sokka had never seen from him in the past. 

The reason Sokka had said yes to Zuko’s pleas was not because he would lose his job without Zuko there (although that was true). It wasn’t because he hadn’t wanted to waste the past three years of his life. And it wasn’t because he knew he could use this as leverage against Zuko. 

It was because when Zuko had grabbed him by the shoulders and begged Sokka to help him, Sokka saw fear in Zuko’s eyes. Pure, unbridled fear. For some reason, he was terrified of going back to Japan. 

Even if Zuko had refused to give him the meeting with Iroh and the promotion, he still would’ve gone with this plan. Because he had never seen Zuko look that afraid about something in all the years he’d known him. He didn’t know Zuko’s situation, but there was something that he would have to confront there, and it scared the shit out of him. And Sokka wasn’t going to do that to him. 

So, even with Zhao staring him down, when Sokka saw that desperation in Zuko’s eyes once again, he knew what his answer was. 

“Nope, nothing to say,” Sokka quipped, squeezing Zuko’s hand once more. “Can we go now? We gotta start packing for our flight.” 

Letting out a breath, Zhao nodded. 

“Fine. We’ll schedule the full questioning for Monday morning, so be prepared,” he said, waving them out of the office. 

“Don’t worry,” Sokka said, rising to his feet and pulling Zuko up with him with their joined hands. “We will be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can yall tell I didn't wanna make zuko too much of an asshole in this like he's much nicer than margaret in the movie is
> 
> also yes, The Warden is in fact the warden from boiling rock because I had to ok
> 
> and I made Zhao the immigration agent because I just figured that'd be funny as fuck to imagine him getting fired from his big business position by Ozai and he just gets stuck working in a goddamn immigration office
> 
> anyway I hope you guys enjoyed! like I said i'm unsure if i'm gonna continue this but if you want me to keep going lmk in the comments!! all comments really make my day :)
> 
> also feel free to hmu on my tumblr @thatsnotrelevant <3


	2. don't throw a party when the guests of honor are jetlagged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka and Zuko arrive in Seward and Zuko gets to meet the family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys!! 
> 
> ty all so much for the love on the last chapter! I wasn't expecting so many people to enjoy just the first chapter, but you all were so sweet!! currently i'm on a weeklong camping trip/road trip with my father which means a lot of time in the car driving to different places, so I've been getting a LOT of writing done
> 
> this chapter took ages to complete because it is insanely long, so I hope you guys enjoy it lol

Thanks to all the travel he did for his work, Zuko had plenty of miles saved up to get him a flight to Alaska. While he was at it, he also used his miles to upgrade both his and Sokka’s ticket so they were sitting in first class. 

The flight was a long one. Zuko didn’t mind this, he was used to long flights at this point. But the frustrating part about the flight wasn’t the length. No, it was the fact that Sokka spent the entire flight quizzing Zuko on facts about himself. 

“Alright, who was my first fictional crush?” Sokka asked, looking over the list of questions the immigration office had listed on their website that they would ask couples asking for a marriage visa. 

Frowning, Zuko wracked his brain, trying to remember what Sokka had told him. It was someone from Star Wars, that was for sure. 

“Uh… Princess Leia?” Zuko guessed. 

“Close,” Sokka said, marking an x next to that question. “I did have a crush on Leia later on, but my first crush was on Han Solo.” 

“Dammit, that was a trick question!” Zuko protested. 

“No, you’re just bad at this,” Sokka chastised. 

“Fine! Who was my first fictional crush then?” Zuko challenged. 

Sokka didn’t hesitate in his response. “Cedric Diggory.” 

“ _Shit_.” 

“You forget that for the past three years my job has been to basically know everything about you,” Sokka reminded him. 

“But that’s the thing! You’ve had three years to learn all this stuff about me, and I have to learn all this about you in a few days!”

Placing the list of questions in Zuko’s lap, Sokka grinned at him. “Better get studying then.” 

Huffing, Zuko snatched the paper up and looked through the questions list. 

“What are you allergic to?” Zuko asked. 

“Bees.” 

Zuko’s eyes widened. “Wait really?” 

“Dude why would I lie about that?” 

“I wasn’t saying you were lying, I'm just surprised!” 

Rolling his eyes, Sokka leaned back in his seat. “Well yes, I am allergic to bees and before you ask, yes I do have an epi-pen.” Pausing, Sokka brought a hand up to his chin in thought. “Also almonds make my mouth itch, but I eat them anyway because they taste good.” 

Zuko blinked at Sokka. “You’re allergic to almonds but you still eat them?” 

Sokka raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re lactose intolerant but you still eat ice cream.” 

“Touché,” Zuko muttered as he continued to look over the questions list. “Oh, this is a good one. It’s about our exes.” 

“Oh?” Sokka leaned over to Zuko to stare at the paper. “How many people has your partner been in a serious relationship with before you?” 

Turning to Sokka, Zuko smirked. “Bet you don’t know the answer to that one.” 

Frowning, Sokka opened his mouth to object. He held a finger up, and Zuko waited in silence. Then, after a beat, Sokka sighed and his smug expression deflated. 

“Look, it’s not my fault you have a nonexistent love life,” Sokka complained. “Have you even been in a serious relationship before? Like, I’ve literally never heard you mention even going on a date.” 

While Zuko was slightly offended that Sokka thought he’d never been in a serious relationship before, he had to admit he didn’t exactly date around a lot. As far as talking about it went, Zuko knew he never had mentioned anything about his dating life to anyone but Uncle and Lu Ten, so he really couldn’t be mad at Sokka for this. 

Still, he huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “Yes, I’ve been in two serious relationships before actually,” he snapped. 

Sokka’s eyes widened. “Wait, seriously?” An annoyingly large grin spread across his face. “Who?! Tell me all about them!” 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Zuko sighed. “Fine. My first serious relationship was when I was 16. I dated a girl named Mai for a year before we broke up.” 

Excitement immediately turned to confusion on Sokka’s face. “Oh shit, I didn’t realize you were bi. I thought you were gay.” 

“I am,” Zuko answered quickly, staring at his hands. “I dated Mai before I figured it out.” 

“Oh. Is that, uh, why you guys broke up?” Sokka asked. 

“No. We broke up for different reasons, like communication issues and stuff. I figured it out a few months later,” Zuko explained. 

“Okay, that’s uh, good I guess?” Sokka shrugged, unsure of how to respond to that. “So what about your second relationship?” 

Now this made Zuko groan as he thought back to _him_. 

“His name was Jet,” Zuko said, shaking his head as he thought back to that trainwreck. “We dated in college for awhile, but I broke it off after six months. He was one of those guys who comes off as, like, the hot and inspiring type y’know? Like he was involved with a bunch of social justice stuff. But he got way too intense about it, to the point where he’d scold me like some child if I didn’t cut class to attend the fifth protest of the week or some shit. Also he was an extremely paranoid person and it was exhausting to deal with.” 

This made Sokka laugh. “That’s funny. My sister briefly dated a dude named Jet in high school and he was exactly like what you just described.” 

Zuko snorted. “Are all guys named Jet just like that?” 

“I guess so,” Sokka shrugged, relaxing back into his seat. 

“So what about you?” Zuko asked after silence had fallen between them. 

“Huh?” 

“Do you have any serious relationships in your past?” 

If Zuko hadn’t been watching, he would’ve missed the way Sokka’s expression had changed at that. It flashed between conflicted, sad, and then he shook his head and went back to grinning as if that question hadn’t just triggered something in him. 

“Yeah, I had one,” Sokka asked, although something was off in his voice. “There was this super great girl named Suki I dated in high school. She was amazing. Smart, athletic, and totally badass,” he sighed, stars practically floating in his eyes. 

Zuko blinked, not having expected that enthusiastic of a response. “She sounds pretty great. Why’d you guys break up?” 

“Well, you know how it goes with high school relationships. I was going off to college, she was going to a different college, and while we wanted to keep things going we knew that we just weren’t going down the same paths in life. I wanted to move to New York while she planned on staying in Seward, so we just talked about it and decided breaking up was the best thing.” Sokka shrugged again. “I still consider her one of my closest friends though. You’ll probably end up meeting her during our trip at some point.” 

“Oh. Cool,” Zuko said, although he wasn’t sure if he was ready to meet Sokka’s ex-girlfriend while pretending to be dating him. “You really only had one though?” 

At this, Sokka’s expression immediately turned guarded. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

The sharp response startled Zuko, and he stammered to try and explain himself. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way! I just, I dunno, you just seem like the kind of guy a lot of people would wanna be with?” The words slipped out of Zuko’s mouth without him doing that on purpose, and as soon as he realized what he had said, he felt his cheeks burn bright red and he turned his face away from Sokka. 

He expected Sokka to tease him about saying ‘you seem like a person a lot of people would want to date’. But to his surprise, Sokka was silent for a moment. 

“Uh, thanks I guess?” Sokka said, clearly confused. Zuko cursed himself in his head. Why did he have to go and say something like that? 

It wasn’t a lie. Sokka was a very likeable dude. Zuko wouldn’t deny his assistant was attractive, and he wouldn’t deny that he was easy to get along with too. He was one of the funniest people Zuko had ever met, and to top it all off, he was just a nice person who cared about others. 

But also that wasn’t the only reason Zuko was wondering if Sokka was telling the truth when he said he had only been in one relationship before. Something about the way he’d said that had just made it seem like he was lying. But Zuko wasn’t sure why he’d lie about something like that? Everyone had weird ex stories. It’s not like Zuko was going to judge Sokka for someone he dated in the past. 

If Sokka didn’t want to talk about it though, Zuko wasn’t going to push it. 

A few minutes passed in uncomfortable silence, neither sure of how to continue the conversation after that. Zuko’s cheeks calmed down thankfully, and after several more beats of quiet, Sokka spoke up again. 

“Let’s get back to this,” he said, giving them both the perfect out from this awkward conversation. “So what size shoes do I wear?”

🜲 🜲

The plane landed in Anchorage. According to Sokka, this was because Seward’s airport was super small, and didn’t have any continental flights coming into it. So it was easier to just fly into Anchorage and drive the rest of the way. 

Once they got off the plane and into the airport, Zuko was following Sokka in a rush. He knew this airport like the back of his hand, and Zuko struggled to keep up as they weaved through the crowd of passengers milling around the terminal. 

Soon, they reached baggage claim. Zuko immediately darted to the carousel to grab his bag, but Sokka stopped him with a hand around his wrist. When Zuko turned to ask what Sokka was doing, he saw Sokka was staring straight ahead, waving his free hand wildly. 

Following Sokka’s gaze, Zuko was able to pick out Sokka’s waiting family with surprising ease. 

A middle-aged man, an elderly woman, and a young woman who seemed to be around the same age as Sokka were gathered near the doors of the airport. The reason Zuko was able to tell they were Sokka’s family was because they all looked just like him. Dark skin, dark hair (save for the elderly woman, who had white hair), and shockingly bright blue eyes. 

“Sokka!” The younger woman cried out in greeting. 

“Katara!” Sokka yelled in reply. Letting go of Zuko’s wrist, Sokka ran towards her, wrapping her in a giant hug and nearly swinging her off her feet. 

The woman—Katara apparently—laughed when he set her down. “I’ve missed you so much. It’s so boring here without you around,” she said, resting a hand on his arm. Then she looked over Sokka’s shoulder and locked eyes with Zuko, and her cheerful expression immediately fell. 

“Oh. So you weren’t joking,” she said, raising an eyebrow at Zuko. 

“No, I wasn’t kidding,” Sokka replied, sighing at Katara’s tone. 

“Hey! Don’t us old folks get hugs?” The middle-aged man who Zuko presumed was Sokka’s father called out. 

“Don’t be so dramatic, dad!” Sokka teased, walking over to hug his dad. After a moment of the two squeezing each other tightly, Sokka let go and turned to the elderly woman. “Happy birthday, Gran-Gran,” he said, wrapping his arms around the small woman. 

“Oh Sokka, it’s so good to see you,” she said, looking as if she was squeezing Sokka as much as she could. “It’s been too long since you were last home.” 

“I know, I’m sorry about that,” Sokka apologized, pulling back but keeping an arm around his grandmother’s shoulder. “I’ll try not to let it happen again.” 

“You better,” his grandmother scolded. Then she turned and locked eyes with Zuko, and Zuko felt himself freeze. “Now who’s this handsome young man?” 

Sokka and Zuko both flushed at that, and Sokka awkwardly walked back over to Zuko, and hesitated for a moment before grabbing him arm and guiding him forward. 

“Dad, Gran-Gran, Katara, this is Zuko. I told you about him on the phone,” Sokka said, his only hint of nervousness being how tightly he was squeezing Zuko’s arm. 

“The same Zuko you’ve worked for for the past three years?” Katara questioned, the suspicion dripping from her tone. 

Zuko winced at this. Sokka must have complained about him to Katara in the past. It made sense, but it certainly wasn’t going to make the best impression on his sister. 

“Yup! That’s the one!” Sokka said, his cheeriness painfully forced. “Zuko, this is my sister, Katara.” 

Katara looked at Zuko with unbridled disdain, and Zuko scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. He muttered an ‘it’s nice to meet you,’ before looking to the other two members of Sokka’s family. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zuko,” Sokka’s father said, resting a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. Turning to face the man, Zuko was surprised when the only reaction he seemed to have to the full view of his scar was a slight widening of his eyes. Otherwise, Sokka’s father’s expression didn’t change. 

Still, Zuko jumped at the surprise contact, but Sokka’s father didn’t comment on it. “You can call me Hakoda,” he said in a warm voice. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Zuko said, bowing out of custom. He was trying to keep a cool facade, but internally he was panicking. He had never met anyone’s parents before. Sure, he’d dated people, but he’d never gotten to the parents part. This was entirely unfamiliar territory for him. Not only did he have to pretend to date Sokka in front of his family for several days, but he also had to make them like him. 

“Let me get a look at him,” Sokka’s grandmother cut in. Zuko looked down at the much shorter woman, and she reached a hand up to grab his chin, and pulled his face down close to her own. She narrowed her eyes as she turned Zuko’s head from side to side, examining both his scarred and his unscarred side. 

After a moment, she let him go, and patted his cheek before his straightened back up. 

“You picked a good one, Sokka. He’s very attractive,” the woman said, smiling at Sokka. Then she looked to Zuko once more. “My name is Kanna, but feel free to call me Gran-Gran.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Kanna,” Zuko said while bowing again, not sure how he felt about calling this woman he just met ‘Gran-Gran’. 

A silence fell over the group momentarily after Zuko straightened back up. Hakoda and Kanna looked to each other before nodding, and Hakoda clapped his hands together. “Well let’s stop wasting time. We have a two hour drive ahead of us so we might as well get moving. Let’s get your bags.” 

One hunt for baggage later, the group made their way out of the airport and into the parking lot. Sokka and Katara chatted the entire time about things that had happened since Sokka had last been home, with Hakoda interjecting every so often with his own bit of information here and there. 

The car was a simple four door sedan. Hakoda drove, with Kanna sitting in the front passenger seat, leaving Sokka, Zuko, and Katara to squeeze into the back. 

After an argument about whether Sokka or Zuko should sit in the middle, eventually Hakoda told Sokka to take the middle seat, despite his protests that he had longer legs and needed the leg room more (even though Zuko was sure his legs were longer). 

Once they were all settled in the car, Hakoda started the engine and pulled onto the road. It wasn’t until they had made it onto the highway that Hakoda spoke again. 

“So Zuko,” Hakoda began, turning his blinker on as he merged into the left lane. “Did you grow up in New York City?” 

“Uh, no, I didn’t,” Zuko replied, not having expected Hakoda to start questioning him as soon as they got on the road. “I’m from Japan actually.” 

“Oh really? You’re a long way from home then,” Hakoda commented. “What made you decide to move to New York?” 

_I wanted to get away from my father,_ Zuko thought internally. 

“My Uncle offered to let me come work for his company in New York after I got my degree, and I wanted to, uh, try somewhere new. So I accepted.” 

“Is that the same company you and Sokka both work for now?” Hakoda asked. 

“Yes, it is,” Zuko answered. Then, feeling like he might be judged for the idea that he only had his job because his uncle gave it to him, Zuko added, “I didn’t start off in the position I’m in now. I worked my way up over the course of several years.” 

Hakoda and Kanna both hummed in approval, and Zuko let out a breath of relief at having said something right. 

“Your parents must be very proud,” Kanna jumped in. “Do you visit them in Japan often?” 

Dammit. Of course his parents would come up. 

“Uh, not exactly,” Zuko stammered. “My father and I don’t exactly… see eye to eye on things.” 

Zuko could see Hakoda’s frown from the front dash mirror. “Does he not approve of your job?” He asked. 

_Dammit._

Clenching his fists in his lap, Zuko wracked his brain to try and come up with an explanation as to why he and his dad didn’t get along that wouldn’t be dredging up all the reasons he went to therapy. 

“No, he doesn’t have an issue with my job really. It’s more regarding my, um, lifestyle choices,” he said in way of explanation, hoping Hakoda and Kanna would just take it that his dad was homophobic and leave it at that. It wasn’t a lie, the fact that he was gay was just another item on the long list of reasons why he disappointed his father. But that was a minor issue compared to everything else Ozai had put him through. 

Still, it wasn’t a lie. 

Hakoda and Kanna both seemed to catch the intended meaning behind Zuko’s words, because Hakoda sighed while Kanna’s expression turned somber. 

Along with this, Zuko could feel Sokka staring at him as well. He glanced up to see Sokka giving him a sympathetic look, but he shrugged it off. It wasn’t the worst thing about his father, so he didn’t need any sympathy about it. 

“Is your situation similar with your mother?” Kanna then asked after a moment of silence. 

Biting the inside of his cheek, Zuko ducked his head down so he didn’t have to see Sokka looking at him from the corner of his eye.“My mother died when I was 11,” was his response. 

Beside him, Sokka sucked in a sharp breath. Clearly that was one of the few things Sokka didn’t know about him. It wasn’t something Zuko liked to tell people. All it got him was pity, which didn’t do anything to ease the pain he’d felt every day since she had died. 

When Hakoda spoke though, there was no pity in his voice. Just somber understanding as he said, 

“I’m sorry to hear that. My wife Kya—Sokka and Katara’s mother—died when they were young too.” 

Now this made Zuko look up. He turned to Sokka, and the two of them shared a somber look. One that just said ‘oh, you too?’ 

For the first time, Zuko thought that maybe he and Sokka were more alike than he realized. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Zuko said, feeling bad for having so obviously brought down the mood in the car. 

“It’s perfectly fine, it was a long time ago. I’m sorry for bringing up sensitive subjects,” Hakoda apologized. 

Before the car could fall awkwardly silent once more, Sokka spoke up. 

“So is Aang still at school?” Sokka asked, looking to Katara. 

Katara, who had been rubbing a pendant on her necklace with one thumb up until this point, glanced up. “Oh, Aang? He’s back actually. The only reason he didn’t come with us to get you guys is because we wouldn’t have all been able to fit in the car.” 

“Who’s Aang?” Zuko asked, looking to Sokka. 

“Jesus Sokka, did you tell him anything about us?” Katara questioned, raising an eyebrow at her brother. 

Sokka flushed. “Family just never… really came up?” He tried. 

This made Katara roll her eyes, but she leaned back in her seat, not going to push it further. 

“So, uh, Aang,” Sokka picked back up, looking to Zuko again. “He’s basically my little brother. Right now he goes to college in Anchorage, but he lives with us when he’s not in the dorms. Also he’s Katara’s boyfriend.” 

“Sokka!” Katara exclaimed. “How many times do I have to tell you, we’re not dating!” 

“Okay, but you two dated throughout most of high school, save for your little tryst with Jet, and you two still act like a couple every time you’re both home from school, so…” 

“We don’t act like a couple anymore,” Katara grumbled. 

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “So did I just imagine you sitting on Aang’s lap the last time I was home for Christmas?” 

At this, Katara’s face bloomed bright red. “Th-That can be a platonic thing!” 

“Sokka,” Hakoda cut in, the warning in his voice obvious. “Your sister and Aang don’t want to put a label on their relationship right now which is perfectly fine. Let’s not tease her too much about it.” 

Grumbling, Sokka folded his arms across his chest and slumped back in his seat, while Katara made a face at him from her side of the car, to which Sokka replied by sticking his tongue out at her. The interaction was so childish and silly, it was odd to see two adults making faces like that. But a part of Zuko wondered if that’s how most siblings were? 

Zuko tried to imagine doing things like that with Azula. Making stupid faces at her while she made them back. Her teasing him about his latest relationship troubles. Him teasing her about her (extremely obvious) crush on Ty Lee. 

Nope. Could never happen. Azula would never stoop to such childish antics. She would just brag about how she was dad’s favorite and ignore any faces he made at her. 

“...so anyway you’ll love him, trust me. It’s impossible to dislike that kid.” Zuko was so tuned out thinking about Azula that he only realized Sokka was talking to him till he was halfway finished with his sentence. 

Blinking at Sokka, it took Zuko a moment to respond as he gathered his thoughts. 

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m sure I will,” Zuko said, still struggling not to think of his family back in Japan. 

Sokka seemed to notice Zuko’s hesitation because he leaned in close to Zuko’s ear. “Don’t worry, you’re doing great,” he whispered, smiling at him before shifting back into his own seat. 

Zuko flushed at the close contact, not having expected encouragement like that from Sokka. He nodded in response, muttering a ‘thank you’ before turning his head towards the window so he didn’t have to think about the way his heart jumped when he felt Sokka’s breath against his ear. 

The rest of the drive was rather uneventful. Hakoda and Katara caught Sokka up on the latest gossip he had missed out on (apparently their local cabbage seller was refusing to sell anything to Aang), Kanna asked Sokka about work, Sokka asked Katara about how her medical school applications were going, and Zuko stayed quiet the entire time. He didn’t mind listening to the family talk to each other. He hadn’t seen Sokka this carefree… just about ever. He laughed easily at his family’s jokes, he had an arm swung casually over Katara’s shoulder, he just seemed happy. 

The scenery outside the car window kept catching Zuko’s attention again and again. Towering pine trees lined the side of the highway, scattered across the sides of towering mountains. The mountains themselves were beautiful as well, rocky and imposing with splashes of white snow across random points near the top. It was beautiful. 

Two hours later, they pulled onto a dirt road which startled a dozing Zuko to attention. They drove along the bumpy driveway, down in between the trees until the trees disappeared to reveal a shimmering blue lake. 

“Whoa…” Zuko muttered, staring in awe at how the sunlight glittered off the lake’s surface like gems. 

“Pretty cool right?” Sokka whispered in his ear. 

Zuko nodded, and Hakoda continued to drive down the slope until a rather nice wood cabin came into view. There was a small dock out into the lake, where a raft with an engine was attached. They pulled up in the driveway of the cabin and Hakoda shut the car off, before turning around in his seat to look at Sokka and Zuko. 

“Now before you go running inside, I feel like I should tell you both that we have a surprise party waiting for you in there,” Hakoda explained. 

“Dad! It’s not a surprise party if you tell the person about it!” Katara protested. 

“Look, they’re both jet lagged and I didn’t want to scare the living hell out of Zuko,” Hakoda explained. 

Ducking his head, Zuko nodded. “Thank you,” he muttered. 

“First off, that’s super sweet and I love you guys, but also who’s at the party?” Sokka asked, looking excited. 

Hakoda and Katara exchanged amused looks. “Everyone who’s missed you since you left town,” Hakoda explained. 

Sokka’s eyes widened. “You mean everyone don’t you. Like, literally everyone we’re friends with.” 

“Yup~” Katara said, patting Sokka’s arm. “That’s what you get for leaving so long.” At that, she shot a dirty look to Zuko, and he shrunk back in his seat. She knew he was the reason Sokka hadn’t been able to come home for such a long time, and while at the time it seemed justified with all the work they had, now he felt ashamed. Also a bit afraid because Katara kept giving him looks like she could kill him, and he had a strange feeling he shouldn’t doubt if she could. 

Katara opened the door and got out of the car first, with Hakoda doing the same and walking around the car to help Kanna climb out. Zuko got out on his side with Sokka following, and when they grabbed their bags from the trunk, he felt a hand rest on his arm and turned to look at Sokka in surprise. 

“Now’s when we really gotta put on a show to convince them we’re together,” Sokka whispered to Zuko. “Also we’re gonna have to tell them we’re engaged eventually, so if I start making an announcement, just know that that’s what I’m doing.” 

“What?” Zuko hissed, whirling towards Sokka. “You haven’t told them yet?!” 

“I didn’t want to drop the bombshell that not only am I dating my boss but I’m also engaged to him over the phone!” Sokka hissed back. “Katara is already suspicious of us, I don’t want to give the rest of my family any reason to doubt us.” 

Sighing, Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. But they need to know we’re engaged before the end of this trip.” 

“Don’t worry, they’ll know by the end of the day,” Sokka reassured, smirking as he patted Zuko’s shoulder again. Stepping back, he held out a hand. “Ready to act like we’re in love?” 

Realizing Sokka was saying they needed to hold hands, Zuko gulped and took Sokka’s hand in his. “Let’s do this.” 

Sokka’s hand was warm in his as they made their way to the front door. The other three were waiting for them, and when Zuko and Sokka approached, Hakoda grinned and opened the door. 

As expected, a loud “SURPRISE!” rang out from inside the house. 

Squeezing Zuko’s hand, Sokka led the two of them inside. 

“Holy shit!” Sokka shouted, feigning surprise. “You guys didn’t have to do this!” 

“Sokka!” A boy’s voice called out. Looking over, Zuko saw a guy who looked like he was a few years younger than Sokka barreling towards the two of them. Letting go of Sokka’s hand, Zuko stepped back as the boy practically leapt onto Sokka, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Behind them, Hakoda, Katara, and Kanna entered the house, shutting the door behind them and dispersing into the crowd of people. 

“Aang! I’ve missed you so much, dude!” Sokka said, hugging Aang back. 

Oh, so this was Aang. As he pulled back from Sokka, Zuko couldn’t help but look the kid up and down, taking in his… unique appearance. 

For the most part, Aang looked like a normal college student. He had shaggy dark hair, really large grey eyes, and was wearing a bright orange hoodie with some jeans. He couldn’t have been older than 20, but he could even pass for a 17 year old if Zuko hadn’t already known he was in college. The thing that caught Zuko’s attention most though was the giant blue arrow tattoo Aang had on his forehead. For one thing, that was a very prominent place to have a tattoo. But also, why an arrow? Did it have some sort of special meaning? 

Zuko didn’t get a chance to ponder on these questions for long though because Aang soon turned to him. “You must be Sokka’s boyfriend!” 

“Uh, yeah, that’s me. I’m Zuko,” Zuko introduced himself, bowing slightly. 

To his surprise, Aang bowed right back. “Nice to meet you! I’m Aang.” 

Overall, Aang just seemed like a really cheerful and friendly college kid. Zuko had a lot of questions about him, like why he lived with Sokka’s family when he clearly wasn’t related to them, and why he had that tattoo on his forehead, but for the most part he was the least intimidating person Zuko had met so far. 

“Nice to meet you too,” Zuko replied. Around them, the party seemed to kick into full swing. Zuko hadn’t really looked around, but there were at least ten people in this entrance room/living room alone. Music was playing from somewhere, drinks were being passed around, and Zuko could smell food coming from the kitchen. 

“So Aang, how’s college going?” Sokka asked, moving back to stand by Zuko. “You out for the summer?” 

“Sure am,” Aang replied. “Though I’m taking some online summer courses which start next week.” 

Feeling as though he should try to make a good impression on Aang just like he had tried with the rest of Sokka’s family, Zuko jumped in. “What are you studying?” He asked. 

“I’m a religious studies major,” Aang answered. “I’m about to go into my fourth year.” 

“Oh, religious studies. That’s, uh, cool,” Zuko said, not having even known that _was_ a major. “What kind of jobs can you get with that?” 

“I’m thinking I want to get my PhD and maybe become a professor,” Aang shrugged. “But I’m also considering joining the Peace Corps after I graduate, so we’ll see where I end up-” 

“Twinkle Toes!” A female voice suddenly shouted, making Zuko jump. “I thought I was gonna get to talk to Sokka first!” 

Looking over to the voice, Zuko saw a girl and a dog making their way towards them. The girl was very short, had dark hair pulled up into two buns on top of her head, and was wearing a green shirt with a giant middle finger on it. The dog seemed to be some kind of tan lab-mix, and she was holding onto it with a sort of short harness-leash thing. When she got closer, Zuko realized the dog was wearing a service vest, and the girl herself had very pale, cloudy eyes. 

“C’mon Toph, you know there’s enough of me to go around,” Sokka teased, holding his arms out and walking towards the girl. 

“Sokka!” Toph ran over to meet him halfway, and threw her free hand around him in a hug. She pulled away after a second though, and Zuko almost yelped when she suddenly punched Sokka in the gut, making him gasp in pain. “You asshole! Who said you could stay away for that long!” 

“Jesus Toph,” Sokka said in a hoarse voice, clutching his stomach. “Was that really necessary?” 

“Yes, because you haven’t been home in over a year and I’ve missed you,” Toph shot back. “Now say hi to Badgermole, he also missed you.” 

Still wincing because of his stomach, Sokka knelt down in front of the dog and scratched his head. “Hi Badgermole,” Sokka said in a baby voice. “Have you been a good boy? Yes you have I’m sure you have!” Badgermole started licking Sokka’s face, making him laugh. 

Badgermole was a strange name for a dog. Why not just name him Badger? Or Mole? Zuko wondered if Toph had named him herself, or if he’d already been named that when she got him. Also what was that supposed to mean as a name? Did it have something to do with the fact that moles were blind and Badgermole was a seeing eye dog? 

Zuko kind of wanted to pet Badgermole after watching him lick Sokka’s face, but Toph hadn’t noticed him yet and Zuko didn’t want to interrupt their reunion. Also Badgermole was clearly her seeing eye dog, and Zuko wasn’t going to pet her service dog unless she told him she could. 

As if Sokka could read his mind though, just then Sokka straightened up and looked to Toph again. “Toph, there’s someone I brought home with me that I want you to meet,” he said, reaching to grab Zuko by the hand and pull him over. “This is my boyfriend, Zuko.” 

Toph immediately scrunched up her face. “I thought Zuko was that guy you worked for who’s a total prick?” 

Sokka flushed bright red while Zuko ducked his head. From the side, Aang awkwardly coughed. 

“Uh, yeah, that’s who I’m dating!” Sokka answered, squeezing Zuko’s hand with an uncomfortable amount of pressure. 

Toph’s eyes widened, her mouth forming a small ‘o’ in surprise. A beat passed, and then a wide grin spread across her face as she let out a barking laugh. “Oh shit! That’s something I wouldn’t have expected from you, Snoozles!” 

“Snoozles?” Zuko muttered, confused. 

“That’s my nickname for him,” Toph explained, folding her arms proudly over her chest. “I have one for all my friends. Aang is Twinkle Toes, Katara is Sugar Queen, and like I said, Sokka is Snoozles.” Suddenly, she frowned, and rubbed at her chin with her free hand. “I’ll have to come up with one for you eventually. But that’s beside the point. Either way, I’m glad Sokka is finally getting laid. God knows it’s been long enough.” 

“Toph!” Sokka yelled in a strangled voice. 

Toph just laughed. “Oh relax. It’s okay to get laid! In fact, it’s a good thing! You shouldn’t be embarrassed about it!” 

Both Sokka and Zuko’s faces were beet red, and Aang seemed to realize that Sokka and Zuko needed to be rescued. 

“Whoa Toph! I think I just saw The Boulder!” Aang suddenly said, pointing towards an unusually tall and muscular man walking towards the kitchen. 

“Where?! That dipshit still owes me money from our last fight!” Toph demanded, narrowing her eyes. “Lead me to him.” 

Aang scampered away with Toph right on his heels, and Sokka sighed in relief. 

“I forgot that if Aang was home from school Toph would be too,” Sokka muttered. “I love her, don’t get me wrong. I’ve known her almost as long as I’ve known Aang. She can just be a bit… intense at times.” 

“Yeah, I can tell,” Zuko deadpanned. “She literally punched you when she came over here.” 

“That’s just Toph’s thing,” Sokka said, snorting. “She used to wrestle when we were in high school. I think for a while she was looking into going pro, but her parents wouldn’t let her so now she’s aiming to become a materials engineer instead.” He sighed again and shook his head. “Anyway, I’m gonna go get something to drink. You want anything?” 

“Just get me something with alcohol in it,” Zuko grumbled. 

“Alright, bud,” Sokka said, slapping Zuko’s shoulder before disappearing into the group. 

Zuko noticed the absence of warmth from where Sokka’s hand had been wrapped around his own. Sighing, he leaned against a free wall, wondering what the fuck he was doing. He thought this would be simple. Go to Alaska, meet Sokka’s parents, chill for a few days, and go home. However, Zuko hadn’t thought he would have to deal with a literal party. He could only hope they were putting on a convincing enough couple act because Zuko was so exhausted with meeting all these new people, he didn’t have the energy to put more effort into this fake engaged thing. 

He was surprised at how well Hakoda and Kanna had seemed to take the news that he and Sokka were together. Zuko had already suspected Sokka had complained about him to his family from Katara’s reaction to him, but Toph’s slipup just confirmed it. Again, Zuko didn’t blame Sokka. He was a really strict boss and he knew it. It just made it more difficult for everyone to believe they were actually together. 

Not to mention, everyone here already had reason to dislike Zuko. He was the reason Sokka had been away from home for so long. His friends and family had missed him, that was obvious. Yet, despite this, everyone (save for Katara) was being genuinely nice to him. There was nothing underhanded going on. No bitter rivalries between Katara and Sokka. No disapproving comments from Hakoda or Kanna. Nothing like Zuko’s home. Zuko knew his home life was messed up. But still, it was strange to witness firsthand what a healthy family was like. 

He looked out into the living room. It was a nice place, with walls painted a deep shade of blue, decorated with what seemed like framed family heirlooms. One thing he spotted looked like some sort of framed sword, while another Zuko could only guess was an older type of boomerang? Along with that, there were a few small carved statues dotted along different end tables in the room. Most seemed to be of animals, and Zuko wondered if they had bought these from someone, or if someone in the family made them because they looked like they were sculpted by the same person. 

Zuko was so lost in thought about the statues that he didn’t even notice someone approach him. 

“Hey, you’re Sokka’s new boyfriend right?” 

Whipping his head up, Zuko saw a rather attractive girl with bobbed brown hair partially pulled back into a ponytail and large, dark blue eyes staring at him. Shit. Sokka still wasn’t back with the drinks. He was going to have to talk to her by himself. He was fucked. 

“Uh, yeah, that’s me. I’m Zuko,” he stammered, hoping he didn’t come off as unfriendly. 

“It’s so great to meet you, Zuko,” the girl said, smiling. “I’m Suki. I’m an old friend of Sokka’s.” 

_Fuck._ Suki was Sokka’s amazing ex-girlfriend. He had told Zuko about her on the plane. 

“Oh, uh-” 

It was at that moment that the gods decided to smile down on Zuko, because Sokka rejoined them just then. 

“Suki!” Sokka cried out, shoving two cans in Zuko’s hands and yanking Suki into a hug. 

“It’s so good to see you, Sokka!” Suki said, hugging him back. “I was just introducing myself to your new boy over here.” 

Pulling back, Sokka laughed and took one of the cans from Zuko’s arms, and Zuko only just noticed Sokka had gotten them both whiteclaws. Well, it was better than nothing. Zuko opened the can and took a sip, relieved that Sokka had gotten him the mango flavor. 

“Oh yeah, he knows who you are,” Sokka said with a grin, still hovering near Suki’s shoulder. 

“Really?” Suki raised an eyebrow. “What kind of things did he say about me?” 

Eyes widening, Zuko tensed up as the spotlight was turned onto him. “Uh, he basically said you were really smart and badass.” 

“Glad to know he’s got his head in the right place,” Suki said, lightly punching Sokka in the arm. “I could kick either of your asses if I wanted to, so he got the badass part down.” 

“Suki practices tessenjutsu,” Sokka explained to Zuko. “It’s the art of fighting with war fans.” 

“Huh, war fans. I haven’t really heard of that.” 

“Before you ask, the fans are usually made of metal, not paper,” Suki said, folding her arms across her chest. It was then that Zuko noticed just how well-muscled her arms were, and knew that saying she could kick his ass was not an exaggeration. 

Beside Suki, Sokka was beaming at her. It was obvious how much he enjoyed being around her—his face was practically glowing. 

“Anyway, I’m so happy for you guys,” Suki said, changing the subject after a beat of silence had passed. 

“Aw, thanks Suki,” Sokka replied, giving her another hug. 

Suki returned the hug, but then she noticed something over Sokka’s shoulders. Eyes widening, she pulled away and pointed. “Holy shit, Bee is here!” 

“Bee? As in Smellerbee?” Sokka asked. 

“Yes! I think I see Longshot too. I didn’t think they’d be here,” Suki exclaimed. 

“We gotta go say hi,” Sokka said, grabbing Suki’s arm. “I’ll be back in a minute, Zuko.” 

Before Zuko could say anything, he and Suki ran off towards another group of people Zuko didn’t know. Great. Sokka had abandoned him again. Just what he needed. 

Sighing, Zuko took a long sip of his whiteclaw. He made his way towards a large window and leaned against the wall, unsure of what else to do. 

A familiar voice then sounded to his right. 

“Did Sokka leave you?” It was Aang, and he was standing in front of Zuko with his hands in his pockets. 

“Yeah, he and Suki went to go talk to, um, Smellerbee and Longshot?” Zuko said, unsure of the names he had heard. 

“Oh yeah, I was talking to those guys earlier. They’re more friends of ours from high school,” Aang explained. “The names are just nicknames that stuck.” 

“Makes sense,” Zuko said, although he had no clue where someone could get the nickname Smellerbee from. 

Nodding, Aang leaned against the wall next to Zuko, sipping at his own water bottle. He didn’t try to talk to Zuko, just stayed quiet as he waited to see if Zuko wanted to make conversation. 

“So, uh,” Zuko began, shoving a hand in his pocket. “How did you end up living with Sokka’s family?” 

“Oh, Sokka didn’t tell you?” Aang questioned. When Zuko shook his head no, he shrugged and took another sip of his water. “I moved to Seward when I was 12 with my dad, Gyatso. Gyatso wasn’t my biological dad or anything, but he had raised me since I was really little. We spent most of our life moving around, because the religion we followed had a lot to do with traveling and not becoming too attached to worldly things. 

“So when we moved to Seward, we weren’t planning on staying for more than a year. I met Sokka and Katara and we got along really well with them, and Gyatso became really good friends with Hakoda.” Aang was smiling at the memory, before his expression fell. “But then Gyatso got sick. He was already an older guy, closer to the age of a grandpa than a dad really. And soon it became pretty obvious he wasn’t going to make it.” Aang was staring at his water bottle now, his lips set in a tight line. “He knew what was coming, so he talked to Hakoda and Hakoda agreed that when Gyatso died he’d take me in. So I’ve lived with them ever since.” 

Zuko blinked at his whiteclaw can. “Oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” 

“It’s okay!” Aang said, suddenly cheerful once more. “It was a long time ago. I’ve made peace with it now.” 

“Okay, that’s good to know,” Zuko replied. It fell quiet between them once more, and Zuko struggled to ask the other thing he wanted to ask. “So that tattoo you have, is that related to yours and Gyatso’s religion as well?” 

Aang nodded. “Yup! I actually have arrow tattoos that run all over my body, from my head to my arms and my legs. It’s a coming of age thing for us.” 

That made a lot more sense. Zuko had been very confused by the idea that Aang just had a giant arrow tattoo in the middle of his forehead for no reason, but it being a religious thing made sense. 

“That’s cool honestly,” Zuko said, glancing at the arrow again. “You probably get asked about it a lot though.” 

This made Aang laugh. “I do. I don’t mind explaining though, it’s fun to get to teach people about my religion, especially since there’s so few of us who practice it anymore.” Then he looked at Zuko, and seemed thoughtful for a moment. “It’s probably not as much fun getting asked about your scar.” 

Zuko shook his head. “No, it’s not.” 

Suddenly, there was commotion at the front of the room as Sokka stood up on a chair. 

“Everyone! I have an announcement I’d like to make,” Sokka said, eyes scanning the room. “But I need Zuko here with me. Zuko? Babe? Where are you?” 

Zuko resisted the urge to groan and walked over to stand by Sokka, already knowing where this was going. 

“Thanks honey,” Sokka said, giving him a saccharine smile and stepping down from the chair. “As you all know, this is Zuko, my boyfriend. I brought him home with me this weekend not only so that you could all need him, but also because we wanted to tell you something very important.” 

All eyes in the room were on them, and Zuko could feel himself shrinking into Sokka in an attempt to hide. He knew Sokka was going to do this, but he really didn’t like how public Sokka was being about it. 

“We’re engaged!” Sokka announced, grinning from ear to ear. Beside him, Zuko tried to smile, but it was a painful attempt. 

“Oh my god!” Someone called from the crowd. 

“Congratulations!” Suki yelled. 

“That’s wonderful,” Kanna said. 

“Holy shit, Snoozles is getting married?” Toph, unsurprisingly. 

Walking up to the two of them, Hakoda was smiling warmly. “Congratulations, both of you.” 

Flushing, Zuko nodded in thanks and tried to look anywhere in the room except at Sokka’s father. Unfortunately for him, he happened to lock eyes with Katara, who was giving him a death glare that could rival even Mai’s. 

Zuko was frozen, unsure of what to do standing victim to Katara’s rage. Soon though, Aang bounded up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, and Katara looked away to smile at him. 

The chatter in the room was very loud now, and Zuko heard someone say something about champagne. Next thing he knew, there was a glass of champagne being shoved in both his and Sokka’s hands, and everyone at the party he hadn’t met yet was walking up to congratulate them. The entire time, Sokka kept a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, but nothing more intimate than that. 

At one point, a woman who Sokka only called ‘Aunt Wu’ came over and said that the clouds had told her they were going to have a very happy marriage. Zuko had no clue what that meant, but when he gave Sokka a questioning look, Sokka mouthed at him to just go with it. 

But that wasn’t the end of Aunt Wu. After saying that thing about the clouds, she noticed how Sokka’s hand was just resting on Zuko’s shoulder, and a look of confusion flashed across her face. Realizing they needed to be more lovey-dovey with each other, Zuko quickly wrapped an arm around Sokka’s waist, and the two barely detached for the next hour. 

For the rest of the evening, Zuko chatted with so many people whose names he’d forgotten two seconds after meeting them. Toph punched him in the arm at one point, which hurt bad enough to the point where he was convinced it would bruise. At one point, an older man with long hair and a beard approached Sokka, introducing himself as Arnook. He seemed friendly enough, but when he came over, Sokka immediately tensed up, and eventually steered Arnook away to talk to him without Zuko. 

When Sokka came back, Zuko wanted to ask him what that was about. But before he got the chance, another family friend named Bato came by to congratulate them and chat with the duo, and Zuko wasn’t able to get the chance. 

Eventually, people began to filter out, much to Zuko’s relief. By the time the house was mostly empty, the only people left were those who lived there, with the added additions of Bato and Toph. Toph had made herself comfortable on the couch, insisting that she was spending the night. No one even reacted to this besides Aang, who instead of arguing just went and grabbed a bowl plus some dog food which was presumably for Badgermole. 

Hakoda and Bato went outside with beers in their hand to chat. Kanna had already retired to her room for the evening. This left only Sokka, Katara, Zuko, and Aang. Apparently while there used to be a guest room in the house, it had since been filled by Aang. This meant that there was no spare room for Zuko to sleep in, so he was going to have to share with Sokka. 

Of course, he didn’t react when Katara explained this. They were ‘dating’ after all. So why would sleeping in the same room be a problem? 

Katara’s suspicion was obvious, but Zuko pretended not to notice as Sokka led him to his room. 

The upstairs of the house was very similar to the first floor. The same shade of blue decorated the walls, and a few family photos were hanging from frames next to the stairs. As Sokka led Zuko up, he glanced at the pictures. He saw a young Sokka pulling on Katara’s hair, a picture of a tiny Katara punching Sokka in the arm almost made him laugh, there were a few older pics of Katara and Sokka with Aang (and Zuko noticed Aang used to have his entire head shaved). Then, there was a picture of a woman Zuko didn’t recognize wrapping her arms around both Sokka and Katara. She was smiling brightly at the camera, and at first Zuko didn’t recognize her, but then he noticed the blue pendant she had wrapped around her neck. It was the same necklace Katara wore. 

That must have been their mother. 

Zuko found himself staring at the picture, noticing how Sokka seemed to be caught mid-laugh, while Katara was sticking her tongue out at him. They both looked very young in the photo, likely around 7-8. A part of Zuko then thought back to his father’s house, and how all pictures of Ursa had been buried in cardboard boxes after her death. 

“Zuko? You coming?” Sokka questioned from the top of the stairs. 

Snapping Zuko out of his reverie, he hurried up the stairs to join Sokka. 

“Okay, don’t forget, my room is the second in the hallway. Not the first, not the third. You really don’t want to accidentally walk into Katara’s room. She’ll definitely kill you if you do,” Sokka said, coming to the plain white second door in the hall. 

“I think Katara would kill me if I give her literally any reason to,” Zuko muttered. 

This made Sokka laugh. “Yeah, she definitely will.” Putting a hand on the doorknob, Sokka took a breath and muttered, “god I hope it’s not too messy.” Then, he opened it and led Zuko inside. 

Zuko wasn’t sure what he had expected Sokka’s room to look like. He’d kind of been expecting a mess, maybe some old posters on the wall. While the latter assumption was right, he was wrong in assuming there’d be a mess, because surprisingly Sokka’s room was spick and span. 

Unlike the downstairs and the hallway, Sokka’s walls were painted a lighter shade of blue. His bed seemed to be about the size of a queen, and had plain white sheets with a dark navy blue comforter thrown on top. There were a few posters peeling off the walls—mostly for bands Zuko wasn’t familiar with or rappers Zuko had only ever heard the name of. Other things Zuko noticed in the room were small knick knacks that almost seemed out of place. A badly drawn picture of a valley with a rainbow in the corner, a literal sword in a sheath propped up against a desk, and a gold metal fan hanging from one of his bedposts. 

“So, uh, this is my room,” Sokka said, gesturing around with his arm. 

“It’s nice,” Zuko commented, noticing a wanted poster with a very poorly drawn picture of who Zuko could only guess was Toph on it. 

“Uh, thanks,” Sokka replied, scratching the back of his neck. “Just don’t like, go digging through my stuff or anything. Not that I think you would, I’m just not sure how many relics from high school I have in here that you could use as blackmail on me.” 

“Oh?” Zuko raised an eyebrow. 

“ _Don’t._ ” 

“Am I gonna find a Han Solo poster in here or something?” Zuko teased, moving towards the closed closet doors. 

“Nope!” Sokka ran to the closet doors and blocked them with his body. “No you will not find anything like that in here, no siree!” 

Zuko snorted and moved away from the closet, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Alright. I won’t go through your stuff, I promise.” 

Sagging in relief, Sokka slumped against the closet doors. “Thanks.” Suddenly, there was a thump from the room next to them, and Sokka immediately straightened up. “Uh, here, I’ll be right back, you should get ready for bed and stuff. Make yourself comfy!” 

Zuko frowned. “Bed? The sun is still out.” 

“Dude, it’s like 11 at night.” 

“What the-” Zuko pulled out his phone to check the time, and realized that Sokka was right, it was 11 pm. Glancing out Sokka’s window, he could still see the sun blazing in the sky, although it was close-ish to the horizon. “The fuck is wrong with the sun?” 

Sokka snorted. “That’s just how Alaska is, dude. The sun hardly ever sets during the summer.” 

For Zuko, whose personal motto was ‘I rise with the sun’, this was going to be a nightmare on his sleep schedule. 

“Don’t worry,” Sokka added, noticing Zuko’s alarmed expression. “I have blackout curtains so it’ll be dark as night when we go to sleep.” 

“Okay, that’s good,” Zuko muttered. 

Sokka inched towards the door. “So, uh, is there anything else you need? I just need to, uh, go do something real quick.” 

Furrowing his eyebrows, Zuko wondered what Sokka was going to go do that he was acting so weird about. But he didn’t want to invade Sokka’s privacy, so he shrugged and waved him off. 

“I’m good. Go do whatever it is you want to do.” 

“Alright, I’ll be back in a few!” And with that, Sokka darted out of the room, leaving Zuko by himself. 

Zuko looked around Sokka’s childhood room, wondering just how he ended up here. Two days ago, Sokka was just his assistant. Someone he could banter with, but not someone he would really consider a friend. Now he was all the way in Alaska, having met Sokka’s entire family, staying in Sokka’s room, sitting on Sokka’s bed. Oh yeah, and he was supposed to marry Sokka so he didn’t get kicked out of the country. 

A part of Zuko still wasn’t sure what came over him to suggest this idea in the first place. Yes, he was desperate to stay out of Japan. But he was literally forcing his assistant to marry him, and lying to all his friends and family to do it. 

A flash of guilt swept over Zuko as he thought back to how happy Sokka’s family had been at the news. If they ever found out the truth, they would be devastated. 

Zuko shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t go back to Japan. He couldn’t deal with having to face his family again. Plus, Sokka had agreed to this, hadn’t he? 

Falling back on the bed, Zuko groaned loudly to the empty room. This was going to be a mess. He could already tell.

🜲 🜲

Closing the door behind him, Sokka groaned into his hands as he moved to stand outside Katara’s room. Today had been exhausting. It was fun getting to see everyone again—Sokka hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed home until he’d gotten off the plane—but his reunions had been slightly marred by the fact that he had to lie to everyone’s faces. Not to mention, Zuko wasn’t exactly good at socializing with strangers, so Sokka had had to carry most of the conversations they’d had. Which was okay! He knew going into this that he’d have to carry most of the conversations for Zuko. He just hasn’t expected his family to throw a coming home party for them. 

Now that the party was over though, Sokka had to deal with one last difficult thing before he went to sleep. He knew his sister. He had figured she wasn’t going to buy the fake engagement, because she knew Sokka and she knew how out of left field this was. So now he had to either try to convince her this was real, or try to get her on their side. 

Sokka knocked on her door twice, with two quick raps. “Katara? Can I come in?” 

“Yeah, come in,” he heard Katara say. 

Opening it up, Sokka was sure to shut the door quietly behind him before he turned to face his sister. No one else in the family needed to overhear this. 

Katara was sitting on her bed, already having changed into her pajamas. She was sitting cross-legged with her laptop in front of her, her hair pulled back into a thick braid. She frowned when he came in, and shut her laptop before folding her arms across her chest. 

“What do you want, Mr. Engaged?” Katara asked. 

Sokka sighed, leaning against her wall. “We need to talk about the Zuko situation.” 

“What, you mean the fact that you brought your meal ticket home to meet Dad and Gran-Gran?” Katara asked, raising an eyebrow. 

This made Sokka cough. “W-What?! What are you talking about?” 

“Oh please,” Katara scoffed, “you know, I never thought you were the type to sleep your way to the top, Sokka. But I guess I was wrong.” 

“You think _that’s_ what this is?!” Sokka demanded, his voice coming out strangled. 

“Of course that’s what this is! You work for this guy for 3 years, complain to me about what an asshole he is constantly, and then suddenly expect me to believe you’re engaged to him?” Katara challenged, pushing off her bed so she could stand face to face with him. “You may have Dad, Gran-Gran, and Aang fooled but I know you. I know this is bullshit, I’m just disappointed that you’d let it go this far.” 

Well shit. This was worse than Katara guessing they were doing this to fake a visa. 

“That’s not what this is!” Sokka protested. 

“Oh yeah? So you two are actually in love?” 

Groaning, Sokka dragged a hand down his face. “No. Fine, you got me. We’re not actually together. But it’s a mutual fake thing, I’m not sleeping with him to get a promotion.” 

At this, Katara blinked a few times, expression shifting from anger to confusion. “Why then?” 

“Because he was going to get kicked out of the country, Katara,” Sokka said, slumping against the wall. “He forgot to file his visa renewal and got a notice that he was gonna get deported to Japan. The guy they were going to replace him with hates my guts, so as soon as Zuko was gone I was gonna get fired too. So I marry Zuko, we both get to keep our jobs and he can stay in the US.” 

Clearly, this wasn’t what Katara was expecting. She gaped at Sokka and took a step back. 

“What the _fuck_ , Sokka?!” She whisper-screamed. “You could get arrested for this!” 

“I’m well aware, thanks for reminding me,” Sokka deadpanned. “I’m not going to get arrested because we’re not going to get found out!” 

“You don’t know that!” Katara exclaimed. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you agree to this? Why would you bring him home to meet your family?!” 

“The immigration agent was getting on our asses for not telling our families, and I already had this trip planned so I just figured it was best to bring him here so that the agent wouldn’t have any reason to harass us!” 

“Okay, fine, you decided to bring your fake fiancé home to meet your father and your grandmother fully knowing you were lying to them. Whatever, I guess. That still doesn’t answer why the hell you agreed to this in the first place.” Katara was pacing around the room now while fiddling with the end of her braid.

“Like I said, the guy they were going to replace Zuko with was gonna fire me-“ 

“I know that’s not your real reason,” Katara hissed, storming up to Sokka and shoving her finger in his chest. “You don’t care about your job enough to risk prison. Hell, Dad’s been asking you to come home for years to take over the boat. You know losing your job isn’t the end of the world. So tell me the real reason you agreed to this.” 

Dammit. Katara really did know him too well. While most of the time Sokka considered his closeness with his sister a good thing, there were times like this where it was painfully inconvenient. 

“Fine,” Sokka muttered. “The real reason I said yes is because when Zuko begged me to help him with this, he told me he can’t go back to Japan. He didn’t say why, but when he said that… Katara, he looked afraid. I don’t know what’s got him so scared of going back, but even though he’s an asshole of a boss, he’s not a bad person. I just couldn’t do that to him.” 

For a moment, Katara was silent. She stared at Sokka with an unreadable expression, and moved to sit down on her bed once more. After a beat, Sokka followed her, settling down next to her. 

“And you always said I’m the one with the bleeding heart,” Katara muttered, fiddling with her hands in her lap. 

“I knowwwww,” Sokka groaned into his hands, “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” 

He felt a hand rest on his back, and glanced up from his hands to see Katara giving him a small smile. 

“It’s called being a good person,” Katara told him. 

“What, breaking the law makes me a good person?” Sokka questioned. 

“Sometimes, if it’s the only way to help someone in need,” Katara said with a shrug. “Remember when I was 15 and stuck a bunch of fireworks around that dam construction project so it would blow up? Just because I knew it was going to pollute the river?” 

“Oh yeah, that time you became an ecoterrorist,” Sokka laughed. “You also convinced Aang to help you, and I had to pick both of you up from the police station at 1 am so Dad didn’t find out.” 

“Yeah, the good old days,” Katara joked. “I knew I could get in serious trouble, but I also didn’t care because it was the right thing to do.” 

Sokka laughed for a moment, before sighing and looking at his sister again. “So you’re not going to tell anyone?” 

Katara shook her head. “No. I won’t.” 

“Thank you,” Sokka muttered, bumping his head against Katara’s arm. 

“You’re welcome. Now get out of my room, I gotta go to bed.”

A minute later, Sokka made his way back into his own room. He wasn’t sure what Zuko would be doing when he got back, but he wasn’t expecting to see Zuko curled up on the floor with a small blanket covering him. 

“What are you doing?” Sokka asked, noticing the pillow he’d taken from Sokka’s bed resting under his head. 

Zuko lifted his head from the pillow, and his eyes widened. “Uh, is it okay that I took this pillow?” 

“I mean, yeah, but why are you on the floor?” 

“Well, where else am I gonna sleep?” Zuko asked. 

For a moment, Sokka could only stare. For as much as he used to think Zuko was a douche, here he was, voluntarily sleeping on the floor and wondering if it was okay if he took a single pillow from Sokka’s bed. 

“My bed is big enough for two people, you realize that, right?” Frankly, Sokka didn’t care about sharing a bed with Zuko. The floor was insanely uncomfortable, and besides, if someone entered their room without asking it was going to be really awkward to explain why Zuko was on the floor. 

Zuko’s eyes widened. “I didn’t want to assume-“ 

“Oh just get your ass in the bed,” Sokka sighed, waving Zuko towards it. “I’m not making you sleep on the floor.” 

Nodding, Zuko scrambled to his feet and climbed into the bed. Meanwhile, Sokka got himself ready for sleep. He pulled his hair out of his wolf tail, massaging his aching scalp as he pushed his jeans off and tossed them towards his laundry basket. The exhaustion of the day was fully hitting him now, and he was sure Zuko was feeling the same. It was 3 hours ahead for him and Zuko, not to mention the long ass flight they’d have, and the several hours of party they’d had to endure. Overall, Sokka felt ready to pass out. 

Now clad in just a t-shirt and boxers, Sokka turned back to the bed where Zuko had already pressed himself up against one side. 

Sliding under the sheets, Sokka lowered the blackout curtains behind the bed, turning the entire room dark. 

An awkward silence hung in the air. Should Sokka say goodnight? Or should he just let Zuko go to sleep? It felt weird not to say anything. 

Eventually, Sokka settled for, “my family really likes you.” 

“Really?” Zuko asked, sounding surprised. “Katara seems to hate me.” 

“Nah, she was just pissed at me because she thought I was sleeping with you to get promoted. She knows the situation now though, so she’ll be nicer to you from now on.” 

“Wait, she knows?” Zuko asked in a choked voice. 

“Yeah, I just told her everything. That’s where I went when I left the room. She understands though.” He shifted so he was facing where he guessed Zuko was in the dark. “I think Aang really likes you.” 

“He’s a cool guy,” Zuko murmured. “I like talking to him.” 

“Yeah, he’s really awesome. I had a feeling you two would get along.” Zuko hummed in response, and Sokka grinned to himself in the dark. If anyone could get Zuko to come out of his awkward shell, it would be Aang, he knew that much. 

A few minutes of silence passed between them. Sokka’s eyes grew heavy, and he considered letting that be it and just going to sleep. But then he thought of one more thing he wanted to say. 

“Zuko?” He said softly, unsure if Zuko was still awake. 

“Yeah?” Zuko sounded wide awake. 

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Sokka said, picking at the edge of his comforter. “You didn’t have to be nice to my family or try to get them to like you, but you are, and I appreciate it.” 

“Why are you thanking me? You’re the one who’s doing me a huge favor,” Zuko responded. 

“True. Still, it’s not an easy thing to ask someone to try and impress Toph,” Sokka said with a snort. 

“She’s pretty scary, I’ll be honest,” Zuko admitted. “But seriously, thank you for doing this, Sokka.” There was something in Zuko’s tone—almost like it was on the edge of cracking—and it held a certain vulnerability to it that told Sokka just how genuine it was. 

“Don’t worry about it, that promotion will be thanks enough,” Sokka joked. Zuko made a noncommittal humming noise in response, and Sokka felt the bed dip as Zuko rolled over onto his other side. 

“Goodnight, Zuko,” Sokka said after another beat of silence. 

“Night, Sokka.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so now we all know where everyone is! 
> 
> first off, yes the jet zuko dated and the jet katara dated are one in the same
> 
> also I hope you guys like how I slotted everyone into this modern au! I'm not basing Aang's religion off of any real one, more just like a modern world nonbending version of what the Air Nomads follow in the show. I just like the idea of him still following his same values and also having the arrow tattoo even in modern nonbending aus
> 
> anyway i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! it was a lot of introducing all the other characters so I hope that was interesting to you. hopefully I can get the next chapter out soon!
> 
> let me know what you thought in the comments <3 if you wanna hmu on tumblr my user is @thatsnotrelevant :)


	3. so, are we like, bros bro?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko gets an unwelcome phone call, Sokka has to confront some things he left behind when he moved to New York, and somehow Zuko, Sokka, and Aang all end up traumatized within the span of five minutes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!! ty all so so much for all the comments on the last chapter, you're all so sweet and i'm so happy so many of you are enjoying this! thanks to this road trip i'm able to write a lot quicker than I usually can which is why yall are getting another 10k+ word chapter only two days after the last one
> 
> anyway, that's enough from me, I hope you guys enjoy this!

Zuko woke up to the sound of someone snoring. 

For a moment, Zuko couldn’t remember where he was. He was wrapped in soft sheets, and was laying on a pillow much puffier than his own. 

The snoring beside him stuttered before continuing, and Zuko suddenly remembered he wasn’t alone in this bed. 

Eyes flying open, Zuko was met with the sleeping face of Sokka only inches from his own. Zuko flinched backwards, but didn’t make a sound. In front of him, Sokka just kept snoring, his hair falling over his eyes and obscuring part of his face. 

Zuko had rarely seen Sokka with his hair down, he found himself unable to look away from Sokka’s sleeping face. A part of him was tempted to brush a strand away from Sokka’s eyes, but then he shook his head. That would definitely wake him up, and Zuko would have no idea how to explain what he was doing. 

Instead of letting his sleep-addled mind betray him like that, Zuko instead pushed himself out of bed, careful not to wake Sokka up. He stretched his arms above his head, listening to the joints pop as he tried to glimpse the sun through the blackout curtains. Picking up his phone, Zuko checked the time and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw it was almost 8:30 am. Zuko was used to getting up closer to 6 am, so to have slept in this late meant his ‘ride with the sun’ clock was severely messed up. 

It was likely due to the weird Alaskan sun. That was the one thing he’d say he didn’t like about Alaska. The sun was screwing him up. 

Pocketing his phone in his sweatpants, Zuko tiptoed out of Sokka’s room and went into the hallway. Shutting the door behind him, he checked to see if anyone was already up, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw both Aang and Katara’s doors shut. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to either of them. He just wanted a moment to himself after all the chaos of the day before. 

Making his way downstairs, Zuko found no one in the living room save for the still sleeping Toph. She was stretched across the couch, her bare feet hanging off the side. Badgermole had taken up residence at the end of the couch, where Toph’s feet didn’t reach. Badgermole blinked at Zuko as he walked by, but the dog didn’t bark, and Toph’s snoring continued without falter. 

Going out the back door in the kitchen, Zuko was greeted with the sight of the rising sun hanging over the shimmering blue lake. It really was beautiful here, and Zuko wondered if Sokka thought he was lucky to have grown up here. Having grown up in the city, it had been rare for Zuko to see natural wonders like this. Whereas the city was so fast-paced and high energy all the time, here Zuko felt like he didn’t have to worry about anything. He could just sit and watch the sun rise, and deal with the day when he decided he should. 

The universe didn’t seem to feel the same way though, because right then Zuko’s phone rang. 

Fishing it out of his pocket, Zuko’s eyes glanced to the buzzing screen, and his blood seemed to freeze in his body. The name ‘Azula’ blared across the screen, and Zuko had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what this call was going to be about. 

Clenching his jaw, Zuko took a deep breath before sliding his thumb across the screen to answer it. 

“Azula, what do you want?” Zuko said without preamble. 

“Oh dear brother,” his sister crooned, “what an unfriendly way to greet your sister. I was just calling to congratulate you!” 

“Congratulate me on what?” Zuko asked, not in the mood to play Azula’s games. 

“On your engagement of course,” Azula said, her tone saccharine. “Uncle Iroh told father and I all about it. Going for your assistant is a bit unexpected, but you’ve always done things differently than the rest of the family, haven’t you?”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Zuko tried to count his breathing. “What I do with my life is none of your business.” 

“We’re your family. Of course it’s our business,” Azula continued. “Were you even planning on telling us?” 

“No, because like I said, my life is none of your business.” 

Azula laughed. “Oh Zuzu, always so dramatic. Honestly I’ve been thinking a trip to the States is a bit overdue. Maybe I’ll fly out to New York and pay you and your boy a visit.” 

The idea of Azula coming to his apartment, and having to play pretend couple with Sokka in front of her, made him sick to his stomach. 

“Feel free to,” Zuko bluffed. “And you can report back to Father that I am in fact marrying an American man and that I am intent on ruining the family name.” 

“At least you’re self-aware,” Azula commented. “Father wasn’t happy to hear about your engagement, that’s for sure.” 

“I expected nothing less of him. At least I didn’t win my favor with him by lying to him to pretend you’re better than me,” Zuko snapped. He was tired of Azula’s taunting, and just wanted the conversation to end as soon as possible. Luckily for him, he knew exactly how to do that, even if it was going to make Azula ridiculously angry at him. 

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never lied to father about anything,” Azula said in a cool voice. 

“Really? How are things looking in your romantic life, Azula? Still no boyfriend?” There was silence on the other end, and Zuko pushed on. “How’s Ty Lee by the way?” 

“She’s fine, I don’t know why you’d be asking about her,” Azula replied, her voice sounding strangled. “And I don’t know what you’re implying about my lack of a boyfriend. I’m a busy woman with a lot of work, I don’t have time for a relationship.” 

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Alright, keep repeating that to Father so he doesn’t suspect anything. I’m not gonna say anything to him, so don’t worry about that. Just know that we’re on equal footing here.” 

A beat passed, and then Azula hung up without saying goodbye. Looking down at his phone, Zuko rubbed his eyes and resisted the urge to sigh. His sister could be intense and a pain to deal with sometimes, but he knew the only reason she was like that was because of their father. Deep down, she was terrified of him, and would do anything to stay on his good side. 

A door opened behind Zuko, and he whirled around to see Sokka stumbling out of the house towards Zuko. 

“Good morning,” Zuko said, giving him a small wave. 

Sokka yawned and waved back, before settling down on the rock next to where Zuko was sitting. 

“Morning,” Sokka said, mid-yawn. He had pulled a pair of shorts on over his boxers, but his hair was still down and hanging around his face. “Were you on the phone with your family?” 

Zuko froze, not having realized Sokka had been able to hear him. “Uh, yeah, I was talking to my sister. How’d you know?” 

“You were speaking Japanese so I just assumed it was someone from back in Japan,” Sokka shrugged. “Was it a good call or a bad call?” 

“Bad,” Zuko huffed. “She just called to taunt me about the fact that she knows I’m engaged and threatened to come visit us in New York.” 

“How bad could that be?” Sokka shrugged. “I mean, we’re faking it well enough for my family. I’m sure we could fool yours too.” 

Zuko shook his head. “No, you don’t want to meet my sister, trust me. She’d figure out instantly that we were faking.” 

“But I doubt she’d turn her own brother in,” Sokka said. 

“No. She would in a heartbeat.” 

Sokka blinked. “Damn. Okay, well let’s try not to meet your sister then.” 

“Don’t worry. I have my own ways of dealing with her,” Zuko reassured him. 

“That’s ominous as hell but alright,” Sokka said, leaning back against the rock. “So how’d you sleep last night?” 

“I slept pretty good. I didn’t wake you when I got up, did I?” Zuko asked. 

Sokka shook his head. “Nah, you were gone by the time I woke up.” 

“Okay, that’s good,” Zuko muttered. “Though, I wouldn’t have minded if you’d woken up. You snore like a jackhammer.” 

Sokka laughed. “Oh yeah, Suki used to complain about that all the time whenever she spent the night. Better get used to it since you’re marrying me and all.” 

This made Zuko short. “If you snore like that every night, I’m gonna die of sleep deprivation before our wedding.” 

“Well I can’t control my snoring, so what are you gonna do about it?” Sokka teased, waggling his eyebrows in challenge. 

Putting a finger to his chin, Zuko pretended to ponder the question. “I dunno, a pillow over your face might work.” 

Sokka gasped dramatically. “I knew it. You’re just marrying me for my money so you can murder me in my sleep!” 

“Yes, that’s exactly my plan,” Zuko deadpanned, even though they both knew Zuko was the wealthier one of the two of them. “How ever did you figure me out?” 

“You just have that gold digger look about you. Like, I can totally picture you lounging on a red velvet chaise in a silk bathrobe going, ‘oh Officer he fell on the knife I swear!’” Sokka teased. Zuko started laughing at this and Sokka joined in. 

The two of them had bantered at work in the past, but never like this. They’d never made jokes about being a gold digger or making such blatant jabs at each other before, and Zuko found he was enjoying it a lot. Since they were technically engaged now, their professional relationship had all but disappeared, and Zuko was actually having fun with it. 

“Screw you,” Zuko said in between his laughs. “I’d never wear a silk bathrobe.” 

“Well you’re missing out because I totally would,” Sokka replied. 

“Oh so you’re the gold digger here then?” Zuko challenged, smirking at Sokka. 

“I’ll answer that when you accidentally fall on a knife,” Sokka shot back, also smirking. 

The two continued to laugh, and Zuko’s stomach began to hurt right as he heard the door behind them open once more. 

“Hey guys!” Katara called out from the door. “Coffee is ready if you want some!” 

A few minutes later, Zuko was sitting at the kitchen table with Sokka on one side of him, and Aang on the other. While Zuko was definitely more of a tea person than a coffee person, he wasn’t going to refuse the coffee offered, and took small sips as he waited for it to cool down. 

Beside him, Sokka was dumping cream and sugar into his coffee, and Zuko wondered if he could even taste the coffee at that point. On his other side, Aang was just sipping at some orange juice while scrolling through his phone. 

Katara was busy at the stove making breakfast for all of them. According to her, Hakoda had already gone out to run errands in town. Kanna was sitting across from the three boys, sipping patiently at her own coffee with a serene smile. That only left Toph as the odd man out, where she was still passed out on the couch in the living room. 

Breakfast was casual. Katara made eggs and bacon for everyone, with some veggie sausage on the side for Aang. Kanna asked Sokka and Zuko more about their work as they ate, and about halfway through the meal Toph wandered into the kitchen, half-asleep and demanding coffee. Zuko also noticed during breakfast that Aang and Katara held hands the entire time, but when Katara noticed him staring, she hastily pulled her hand away from Aang’s. 

When the meal was over, Zuko offered to help with the dishes. Katara was much friendlier to him today than she had been the day before, which he suspected was because she now knew the real situation going on with him and Sokka, and she chatted with him while they did the dishes together. 

Hakoda came home after everything had been cleaned up. His mouth was set into a tight line, and after wishing everyone a good morning, he looked to Sokka and said they needed to talk privately for a while. 

No one said what they were talking about, and Zuko was curious as to what was going on. Katara told him not to worry about it though. 

So that’s how Zuko found himself once again sitting alone outside. Katara had gone to take Toph home, with Kanna going along. 

Zuko wished he had brought his laptop so he could do work while he was here. He had been in such a rush to pack, he completely forgot to throw it in his carry-on. But at the same time, he struggled to think of why he should bother working right now. It was only assumed he was going to get to keep his job should he and Sokka be able to fool Zhao and get a marriage visa. But he still wasn’t sure if that was even going to work. 

Picking up a rock, Zuko tossed it across the river, watching it bounce twice before disappearing under the surface. 

“Hey Zuko.” 

Turning his head, Zuko saw Aang walking up behind him. “Oh, hey Aang,” Zuko greeted.

“Are you bored?” Aang asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

Zuko shrugged. “A bit, yeah. I don’t know what there is to do around here.” 

“Want me to show you around the lake?” Aang offered. 

Like yesterday, Aang’s friendly demeanor and large smile put Zuko at ease. “Yeah, sure, why not.” 

He stood up to follow Aang, and Aang started leading him towards the edge of the water. 

“So this is the dock,” Aang said, pointing out a short wood jetty. “We only have two rafts with engines here. Hakoda’s actual boat that he uses for his fishing is at the actual ocean docks in town.” 

“How often does he go fishing?” Zuko asked. 

“Usually he goes twice a year, for a few months at a time,” Aang shrugged. “But it changes depending on how the fish are.” 

“Wow, that’s a long time,” Zuko commented. “So is that how it’s always been? Like, when you guys were younger did he leave like that?” 

Aang nodded. “Yeah, that’s the way it’s been ever since I’ve lived here at least.” 

“So Kanna took care of you guys while he was gone?” 

“Yeah, her and Katara both, honestly. Katara liked to mom me and Sokka a lot when she was younger, though she’s chilled out a bit now,” Aang explained. 

They continued walking past the docks, still following the edge of the lake as they got further from the house. 

“Ah, got it,” Zuko said, easily able to picture Katara scolding Sokka like a mom. Thinking of Katara though made him remember another thing he was wondering. “Uh, so if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the situation with you and Katara? Because I see the way you two act with each other, but then Katara says you guys aren’t a thing.” 

“Oh yeah, that’s always confusing to people,” Aang laughed. “We started dating in high school, but when she was going off to college I was only about to start my senior year, and she said she didn’t want to force us into long distance. She also said she thought we should both explore other options, just because we’d gotten together when we were kids. She didn’t want to break up with me, but she didn’t want to use a label for our relationship either. So right now we’re just in a grey area.” 

“Does that bother you at all?” Zuko asked. 

Aang shrugged. “Not really. When I was younger I used to get super jealous, but now I’m just at a place where I want her to be happy. So if she wants to not have a label for the time being, that’s fine.” 

Zuko blinked. “That’s… wow, that’s really mature. I don’t think I would’ve said something like that when I was your age.” 

“I’ve been in love with her since I was 12. I’m pretty dedicated to just making her happy,” Aang said, smiling dreamily. 

“12? That’s a long time,” Zuko said. Aang was, what, 20? 21? That’s nearly a decade he’d been in love with Katara for. Zuko tried to imagine what it was like to love someone for that long. It didn’t seem like it’d be an easy thing. 

“Yeah, I’m lucky to have found someone as great as her.” Aang let out a happy sigh, before turning to look at Zuko. “Though I’m not the only lucky one. Sokka’s a great guy, but I’m sure you already know that.” 

The comment made Zuko flush, and he ducked his head hoping Aang would think it was out of shyness or embarrassment. 

“Yeah, I know,” he said. 

Aang seemed to enjoy seeing Zuko embarrassed. “What drew you to him in the first place?” He asked. 

Shit. Time to hope his acting experience from high school theater was still helpful. 

“Uh… I’d say his sense of humor,” Zuko began, thinking back to this morning when they’d been laughing in front of the lake. “He’s super funny, and always knew how to make me laugh even when I was stressed out of my mind.” That wasn’t a lie. There were often times when Zuko would be in near panic about a deadline, and Sokka would crack a joke that made all his stress disappear. 

“Yeah, Sokka is pretty funny,” Aang said, chuckling. “What else?” 

“He’s insanely smart,” Zuko continued, finding it easier to come up with things the more he talked. “I’ve noticed people usually underestimate him because he likes to make a lot of jokes. But he’s always been able to come up with solutions to even the most complicated of issues. It’s pretty amazing to watch him work something out.” 

Then, Zuko went on without waiting for Aang to prompt him again. 

“Also, he doesn’t come off like it, but he’s really a caring guy,” Zuko said, not even looking at Aang anymore. “Like he might complain a lot if you ask him for a favor, but he’ll do just about anything for the people he cares about.” 

There was a strange fluttering in Zuko’s chest as he finished his last sentence, realizing he hadn’t made any of that stuff up. He really did think all that about Sokka. 

Feeling a stare boring into his head, Zuko turned to see Aang giving him the biggest and cheesiest grin he’d ever seen. 

“That is so cute,” Aang said. 

Cheeks burning, Zuko turned his head to look away from Aang. “Don’t tell him I said any of that.” 

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Aang replied, the grin still stretching across his cheeks. “But that’s really cute.” 

Rolling his eyes, Zuko huffed. “Shut up and just show me the rest of the lake.” 

Unphased by his sour tone, Aang only laughed.

🜲 🜲

Sokka already knew what his father wanted to talk to him about, and he wasn’t excited for the conversation. 

After Hakoda called him away from breakfast, Sokka followed his dad out to the front of the house, where the hood of his truck was popped open. 

“Something wrong with the truck?” Sokka asked, leaning against the door as his dad moved to stand in front of the hood. 

“Nothing major. Something’s just rattling that shouldn’t be,” Hakoda explained, leaning over to look into the engine. Sokka was silent as his father stared at the engine for a few moments, before reaching into his toolbox on the ground to take a wrench out. 

“You already know what I’m going to ask you about,” Hakoda said after a few beats. 

Sokka sighed. “You want to know when I’m moving back home.” 

“Yes, I do,” Hakoda confirmed. “You know I’m happy about your engagement and all, but you know you can’t stay in New York forever. Not when you have responsibilities waiting for you here.” 

Groaning, Sokka kept his gaze on the lake. “I’ve told you though, I don’t want to take over the boat.” 

From half inside the hood, Hakoda sighed. “I know you keep saying that, but I’ve seen you when you’re out there. You know exactly how to handle the boat, you have a knack for figuring out exactly where the crabs are, this type of stuff is in your blood.” 

He was right about that. Sokka couldn’t deny he had inherited his fishing ability from his father. 

“Just because I’m good at something doesn’t mean I should do it,” Sokka muttered. 

“I know that. But this boat—our fisherman name—has been in the family for three generations now. Your sister is going to medical school, so when I can’t work the boat anymore the only person I can give it to is you.” 

Sighing again, Sokka dragged his hands down his face. He continued to look out to the water, and saw two figures walking along the edge. It was Zuko and Aang, and the sight of them chatting made Sokka weirdly proud. 

“I get it, Dad. I really do. But I moved to New York because I wanted to be an entrepreneur. And I’m finally getting the opportunities I’ve been waiting years for. I can’t just drop all of that!” 

“Fine, if you don’t want to leave yet, I’m okay with that,” Hakoda relented. “But you can’t stay there forever. You have to decide when you’re coming back to your family at some point or another.” 

“But what about Zuko?” Sokka challenged. “He has a whole life and career in New York too. He’s not going to just leave that to live in Alaska with me!” 

Finally looking up from the hood of the truck, Hakoda met Sokka’s eyes, and Sokka realized he seemed… sad. 

“Then you should have thought about that before you agreed to get married,” Hakoda said softly. “We all have to make sacrifices for our families.” 

Sokka didn’t know how to respond to that. 

He understood what his dad was saying. He knew why his dad was so desperate for him to take over the family business. But living as a commercial crab fisher in Seward? That wasn’t the life he wanted for himself. 

When Sokka didn’t reply after a few minutes, Hakoda shook his head and let out a breath, as if he’d been holding it. 

“Just think about it, son,” Hakoda told him. 

Nodding, Sokka pushed off the car and made his way back into the house. He curled his hands in and out of fists, trying not to let his frustration consume him. He knew he had responsibilities here. And he knew this wasn’t just a matter of his dad disapproving of his life choices—his dad _needed_ him to do this. And that was the most frustrating part. His dad wasn’t forcing this on him out of malice. He literally had no one else to leave his livelihood to, and if he let it disappear, their family’s history would disappear with it as well. 

Still, Sokka didn’t want to accept that this was his only option. Not yet. 

Deciding he needed to clear his mind, he made his way up to his room to take a shower. Once he was in his room, he stripped down and made his way into the attached bathroom in his room. He turned the shower on to a temperature that would be unbearably icy for most, but was something he was used to as he often took cold showers when he was upset about something. 

Leaning his head against the tile wall, Sokka squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think about his conversation with his father. Instead, he distracted himself by thinking about showing Zuko around town. There were so many cool spots he could show him, let him see the world he grew up in. 

A part of Sokka realized that a few days ago, he never would’ve been excited about visiting different places with Zuko of all people. But they were on different terms now. The dynamic between them had shifted, and Sokka was starting to think of Zuko less as his boss, and more as his friend. 

It was weird how enjoyable it was to be around Zuko when they weren’t working. Zuko seemed to appreciate his unique brand of humor, which was already a plus. He could keep up with Sokka’s sharp jabs with his own deadpan, and more often than not the two just seemed to operate at the same speed. Along with that, Zuko was ridiculously awkward sometimes, and it was hilarious to witness. 

Yeah, Sokka no longer minded the idea of fake marrying him all that much. He was just helping a friend out. 

Eventually, Sokka got out of the shower. He reached for the towel he always kept hung up behind the door, and was met only with empty air. 

He forgot to grab a towel. 

_Shit._

Sokka usually brought his phone with him in the shower to listen to music, but he’d been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t bothered to do that this time. That meant his phone was in the last place he had used it, which was back downstairs at the kitchen table where he’d eaten breakfast. 

Okay, not the end of the world. He couldn’t text Aang or Katara to get him a towel, but all he had to do was dart out into the hall, grab a towel from the cabinet, and run back into his room before anyone saw him. Easy. 

Realizing he had been dripping water onto the tile for the past several minutes as he thought of a plan, Sokka cursed under his breath and stood behind the door to his bedroom. Okay. He had to run so he didn’t get the carpet too wet. Not a problem. 

Opening the door, Sokka darted forward, focusing so much on the door leading out of his room that he didn’t even notice the person standing in the middle of his room until it was too late. 

Sokka slammed against a body. First thing he thought was: _OH MY GOD I’M NAKED AND PRESSED UP AGAINST SOMEONE._ The next thing he thought came with a realization as he felt bare skin pressed against his own: _WHY IS HE NAKED TOO?!_. 

The two figures fell against the carpet, and when Sokka looked up from the well-muscled chest his face was pressed against to see who this was, he saw dark hair, gold eyes, and the angry red flash of a scar, and Sokka felt his stomach drop as he realized he and Zuko were laying against each other naked. 

“ _AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!_ ” 

Pushing off of Zuko’s chest and ignoring what had definitely been a dick pressing against his thigh, Sokka scrambled backwards, struggling to hide his own crotch with his hand. 

“WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!” Sokka screamed, pressing himself up against the wall. 

“WHY ARE YOU WET?!” Zuko shouted back, mirroring Sokka as he tried to hide his own body. 

“I ASKED FIRST WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!” 

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND! WHY ARE YOU WET?!” 

Pushing himself to his feet, Sokka darted behind the still open bathroom door, peeking out so only his head was visible. Zuko grabbed a blanket off Sokka’s bed and wrapped it around himself, before slamming his back against the wall furthest from Sokka. 

The two stared at each other, eyes wide and breathing hard. Sokka had just seen so much of Zuko he’d never intended to see. He’d seen those pale abs, the lean muscles on his arms, and… that other part of his body that Sokka was going to try and erase from his memory forever. 

His mouth was dry. 

“Okay, tell me why the fuck you’re naked in my room!” Sokka managed to spit out after a moment. 

“I-I was going to take a shower!” Zuko stammered. “Why the hell are you wet?!” 

“Because I just got out of the shower and there was no fucking towel!” Sokka yelled in return. “Did you not hear the water running?!” 

“No! I didn’t!” Zuko exclaimed. “I thought you were still talking with your dad!” 

Blinking rapidly, Sokka took a deep breath to try and understand what Zuko was saying. He’d come up here to take a shower, thinking Sokka was still talking with his dad. Sokka had been standing in the bathroom for several minutes after turning the shower off as he tried to figure out how to get a towel, so that must’ve been why Zuko didn’t hear the shower running. Right when Sokka had walked out of the bathroom Zuko had been about to go in the bathroom, hence the naked run-in. 

Okay. That made sense. 

Sokka was still pretty sure he was traumatized. 

Closing his eyes, Sokka took another breath to calm his pounding heart. 

“Can you put on some pants and get me a towel from the cabinet in the hallway, and then I can dry off, you can shower, and we can pretend like this never happened?” Sokka asked. 

Eyes still blown wide, Zuko nodded. He shuffled backwards and pushed to his feet, turning to presumably grab his discarded clothes off the bed. This action exposed his butt, and Sokka pointedly tried not to stare, when he heard the door to his room slam open. 

“Are you guys okay I heard screaming-“ Aang cut himself off as he got an eyeful of Zuko ass, his face blooming bright red as Zuko jumped to hide himself again. His head whipped towards Sokka, and when he saw Sokka’s shirtless form half-hidden behind a door, his face burned to a shade of red so dark Sokka was convinced his head was going to explode. 

“I’M SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN TO INTRUDE!” Aang yelled, slamming the door shut without waiting for an explanation. 

Sokka heard footsteps running down the hallway, and he sighed. 

Great. Not only were he and Zuko traumatized now, but so was Aang. 

It wasn’t even lunch time yet.

🜲 🜲

After the Incident™, Zuko found himself having to take a cold shower. A _really_ cold shower to try and forget the mental image of Sokka’s naked body. Of course, it was now permanently ingrained in his head, but Zuko was still going to attempt to forget it as best he could. 

Once he was clean (and dry, since he’d remembered to grab a towel, unlike Sokka), Zuko got dressed and made his way downstairs to find the house mostly empty. Katara and Kanna seemed to still be out, Aang had (understandably) disappeared, and Hakoda’s truck was no longer in the driveway. 

Sokka was in the living room, now fully-clothed and scrolling through his phone. When Zuko came downstairs the two of them shared a silent moment of eye contact, wondering if the other was going to bring it up. 

There was one beat of silence. 

Then two. 

Then, Sokka burst out laughing. 

Strangely, when Sokka began to laugh, Zuko did too. He wasn’t sure if they were laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, or if they were laughing about Aang’s unwitting role in it, but soon Zuko found himself doubled over with laughter. 

“G-God we’re stupid!” Sokka gasped between laughs. 

“I know!” Zuko replied, struggling to breathe. “I was so scared because you were wet!”

This only made Sokka laugh harder, and the next few minutes were just the two of them cracking themselves up. Soon, Zuko’s chuckles began to slow down, and Sokka took a few heaving breaths. By the time they had quieted down, they were both wearing identical goofy grins. 

“Obvious nude terror aside, did you have a good shower?” Sokka asked, leaning back against the couch. 

Plopping down beside him, Zuko nodded. “Yeah, it was fine. Thanks for letting me use your shampoo.” 

At this, Sokka frowned. “I didn’t say you could use it.” 

“Well I forgot mine, so would you rather I let this,” Zuko held up a strand of black hair, “become a greasy mess?” 

Sokka shuddered at the mental image. “Oh god, no. Use as much of my shampoo as you want. I don’t want to meet teen emo Zuko.” 

“You’ve never even seen a picture of me as a teenager!” Zuko protested. 

“Don’t have to. I just know you parted your hair over one eye and cried to Gerard Way lyrics,” Sokka smirked. 

Opening his mouth, Zuko tried to argue, but realized he couldn’t because Sokka was completely right. Frowning at Sokka, he shut his mouth and crossed his arms over his chest in a fake pout. 

“There he is! There’s teenage Zuko!” Sokka cried out. Zuko wanted to laugh, but he held his frown even as Sokka reached out towards his face. 

“Let me just-“ Sokka’s fingers brushed against his hair, and Zuko went very still as Sokka pulled Zuko’s hair so it was covering one of his eyes. His heart stuttered at the close contact, but Sokka didn’t seem to notice. “There!” 

Sokka held up his phone camera, and Zuko snorted when he saw how Sokka had forced him back into his emo phase. 

“All that’s missing now is the black eyeliner and my goth girlfriend,” Zuko deadpanned. “But considering Mai is all the way back in Japan, you’re gonna have to reconsider your wardrobe choices.” 

This made Sokka snort. “No problem. I’ll just raid Katara’s closet to find the stuff from her Evanescence phase.” 

“Power couple of the century,” Zuko joked. 

The two laughed again, and Zuko was glad that the awkwardness seemed to have completely dissolved between them. 

Sokka settled back against the couch while Zuko fixed his hair. 

“So I’ve decided we’re gonna go to town,” Sokka announced, turning to look at Zuko. 

“What are we gonna do there?” Zuko asked. 

“First we’re gonna go to the general store, because I’ve been craving Reese’s cups all day,” Sokka explained. “Then we’re gonna say hi to my old boss from the part time job I had in high school. After that, we’re gonna come back here and I’m gonna take you out on the lake.” 

“Wow, you have it all planned out,” Zuko commented. 

Sokka nodded. “Yup! I’m the plan guy!” 

The way he said it, so proudly and without an ounce of irony, made Zuko smile. 

“Alright, Plan Guy. Let’s go get you some Reese’s.” 

The drive to town wasn’t a terribly long one. It took about ten minutes to get out of the wilderness and into what seemed like the actual cluster of buildings that was Seward, and another five minutes to get to the General Store from there. 

Zuko hadn’t been expecting there to be a literal store called The General Store. He thought Sokka had just been using a colloquialism. A casual way to refer to the local Walmart or something. 

But nope. They pulled up to a small wood paneled building, the words ‘Beifong General Store’ painted across the top. 

Zuko followed Sokka inside, where he beelined straight for the candy aisle. Walking at a calmer pace, Zuko took a moment to look around the store, trying to see what a ‘general store’ sold. For the most part, it seemed like a quaint grocery store/convenience store. There was an aisle dedicated to fishing supplies and things for car maintenance, but otherwise it didn’t seem all that unusual. 

The place was small, but Zuko liked it. He strolled through the chips aisle, and was tempted to grab a bag of Takis. He stared at the metallic purple plastic longingly, thinking of the tangy spice taste that made those things so addicting, before deciding he didn’t need them and forced himself to move on. 

Sokka still seemed to be in the candy aisle, so Zuko moved towards the front of the store. He looked under the register, eyes wandering over the multi-colored packs of gum. He saw one pack that said ‘hot mint’ across the front and frowned. What the fuck was hot mint? How did that even work? 

Zuko’s internal crisis over hot mint was interrupted by a voice from behind the register. 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” 

At these words, Zuko froze. He recognized that voice. 

Slowly, Zuko lifted his head, not wanting his suspicion to be true. First, he saw a burnt orange shirt set over tan, muscled arms. Then, he saw shaggy brown hair falling around an equally tan neck. Before he even got to the eyes though, Zuko’s fear was confirmed when he saw a long piece of wheat poking out a pair of thin lips set in a crooked smile. 

“Jet,” Zuko breathed, finally meeting his ex-boyfriend’s eyes. 

“Holy shit, Zuko. Never thought I’d see you again,” Jet said, eyeing Zuko up and down. Zuko couldn’t tell by Jet’s tone whether he meant that in a good way or a bad way. “What on earth are you doing in Seward?” 

“I-I-” 

Zuko’s attempt at a response was cut off by a warm arm swinging over his shoulders, as Sokka suddenly appeared at his side. 

“Hey Jet,” Sokka said, waving at the man and grinning casually. “I see you met Zuko.” 

At this, Zuko and Jet locked eyes, unsure of which one should try to explain this. 

“Uh, we actually already know each other,” Jet said after a moment, smirking as he leaned against the counter. 

Sokka’s eyes widened. “Wait, shit, really? How?” 

Clenching his jaw, Zuko leaned into Sokka’s side. “Remember that ex-boyfriend of mine from college I told you about?” He whispered into Sokka’s ear. 

“HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE JET YOU TOLD ME ABOUT?!” Sokka shouted, pointing at Jet. 

Trying not to let his eye twitch, Zuko jerkily nodded. “Yes. This is him.” 

For a moment, Sokka was silent. He looked between Jet and Zuko a few times, the grin on his face growing wider with each passing second. Then, he burst into laughter. 

“You and Katara dated the same guy! I can’t believe it!” Sokka gasped, unable to stay upright. “Oh my god, she’s gonna lose her shit when she finds out. This is the best thing that’s ever happened.” 

While Sokka seemed ecstatic at this revelation, Zuko and Jet were still staring at each other, unsure of what to do. Jet looked as if he was at least partially enjoying this situation, but Zuko could tell he still had no clue what the fuck to do about it. Frankly, Zuko just wanted to walk away. But walking away from a conversation you were a part of was usually considered rude, and so Zuko forced himself to stay put. 

“Wait, so I’m still wondering,” Jet said after a moment, making Sokka pause from his laughter. “What are you doing in Seward, Zuko?” 

“Well!” Sokka said, this time wrapping an arm around Zuko’s waist and pulling him close, “I brought him home this weekend to meet my family, because we’re getting married.” 

The way Sokka said those words, ‘we’re getting married’, was so casual that Zuko almost forgot it was a lie. Or rather, not a legitimate marriage. While Zuko had noticed how good Sokka was at spouting things about their relationship and making it sound real, he sounded so legitimately happy about this. Like he was really excited to marry Zuko. 

There was a moment where this thought made Zuko’s heart stutter. 

“Seriously?” Jet questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Well shit, congrats guys. This is just such a weird coincidence. Small world I guess.” 

“Yeah, really,” Sokka laughed, fingers squeezing tighter on Zuko’s side. After a moment, he let go and stepped towards the counter, throwing a Reese’s in front of him. “But small world aside, I want my chocolate.” 

Jet snorted. “No problem, dude.” 

“Oh, by the way,” Sokka suddenly said, as if he had just remembered something. “Did that new alloy I ordered come in yet?” 

“Uh, hang on let me check,” Jet said, moving to pull up the computer within the register. 

Although Zuko didn’t know what Sokka would need alloy for, he decided it wasn’t something he really needed to know, and wandered towards the door leading outside. He didn’t want to rush Sokka, but he really didn’t want to have to watch him talk with his ex. Really, he just didn’t want to have to see Jet anymore. He’d gotten enough of him in college. The fact that he was here in Seward was just karma really getting back at him for getting himself into this mess in the first place. 

As Zuko was walking out, he noticed a figure on his right, near one of the shelves of candy. Turning his head, he saw Toph running her fingers along the different processed sugars wrapped in brightly-colored plastic. After a moment, her fingers landed on a bag of m&m’s, and she grinned while wrapping her hand around it. Then, she shoved it in her pocket and began to walk towards the exit Zuko was standing in front of, Badgermole by her side. 

“Um… are you stealing that?” Zuko asked Toph in a low voice as she approached. 

Pausing in her steps, Toph narrowed her eyes. “Oh, Zuko, didn’t know you were here,” she said, cocking her head to the side as if listening for something. “Where’s Sokka?” 

“He’s at the register talking to Jet,” Zuko said. “But are you going to steal those m&m’s?” 

“It’s not stealing if you own the store,” Toph replied, resuming her walking and heading towards the door. 

Zuko blinked. “Wh-you don’t own the store!” 

Despite being blind, Toph swiveled her head right at his face as she raised a single eyebrow at him. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. I’m Toph _Beifong_ , my family basically owns this town.” 

Oh. Beifong’s General Store. She really wasn’t stealing. 

“Shit, uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know-” 

“Don’t worry about it, bud. I’ve definitely stolen shit that wasn’t from my parent’s stores before,” Toph said with a wicked grin, slapping Zuko on the arm with a little more force than necessary. “Anyway, follow me outside. I wanna talk to you.” 

Zuko frowned. He hadn’t spoken to Toph today besides this morning when she had been half-asleep during breakfast. After that, Katara had taken her home and he hadn’t seen her off. He had no idea what she could want to talk to _him_ about. 

Still, he followed her outside, knowing Sokka was going to catch up eventually once he was done talking to Jet. 

Toph settled herself at the railing in front of the store doors. Badgermole sat patiently beside her, wagging his tail as she ate her not-stolen m&m’s. Unsure of what to do to start the conversation, Zuko instead just leaned against the railing beside her, waiting for her to speak first. 

“So Zuko,” Toph began, popping a green m&m in her mouth, “I wanna be upfront with you and tell you I know you and Sokka aren’t actually together.” 

Inhaling sharply, Zuko felt himself choke on his own spit, and began to cough violently. He used the railing for support as he struggled to calm his burning lungs, and after a moment of his episode, Toph began to pat him on the back with surprising gentleness. 

A minute later, he could breathe again. 

“ _What?_ ” He hissed, glaring at Toph. 

“Oh don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m not gonna tell anyone.” Toph shrugged. “I’m just good at being able to tell when people are lying.” 

“How?” Zuko asked. 

“I’m really good at reading tones of voices,” Toph explained. “Since I can’t see, I pay really close attention to people when they speak. And I’ve learned that more often than not, it’s not so much people’s words that matter, but their tone of voice.” She popped another m&m in her mouth and spoke as she chewed. “This isn’t to say every blind person is a walking lie detector. I just like to listen between the lines.” 

That… made a strange amount of sense. But listening to tone of voice wasn’t a foolproof way of figuring out if someone was lying or not. Zuko already knew that his reaction to Toph’s statement was what cemented it. So he had fucked himself over with that. 

“What are you gonna do?” Zuko asked after a moment of silence. “Blackmail me?” 

“What the fuck?” Toph whipped her head towards Zuko and frowned. “No, I don’t do that shit. I literally just wanted to know what your guys’ deal was.” 

“...oh.” In this moment, Zuko was grateful Toph was blind, because she couldn’t see the red rushing to his cheeks at having assumed that of her. “Uh, well, it’s kind of a stupid story, in all honesty. I forgot to file my visa renewal and got a notice saying I was being deported to Japan. There are some personal reasons as to why I can’t go back there, so I panicked and came up with the idea to file for a marriage visa with Sokka. After I talked with him about it we eventually struck a deal, and now we’re here.” 

Toph nodded at this, finishing the last m&m in her bag before shoving the wrapper in her pocket. “You know, that’s not a bad reason to fake a marriage,” she commented. “Like I said before, I’m not gonna tell anyone, so don’t worry about that.” 

“Thank you,” Zuko muttered, head dipping in relief. 

“No problem. But do you mind if I give you some advice?” Toph said, sounding much more serious than she had a moment ago. 

“Uh, sure.” 

Reaching down to scratch Badgermole’s head, a small smile spread across Toph’s face. 

“Be careful with him, Zuko,” Toph said quietly. “Sokka’s the kind of person who’s really easy to fall in love with.” 

_What?_

Zuko opened his mouth to ask her what she meant by that, but before he could, she was already walking away. “Catch you on the flip side, loser!” She yelled, sticking her tongue out at him as Badgermole led her through the parking lot and to a waiting car. He stared at her as she climbed in the back, Badgermole jumping up to sit on her lap, before the car door shut and she was gone from his sight. 

He watched the sleek black sedan pull out of the parking lot and onto the main road, wondering what the hell she meant by that. She could’ve been warning Zuko not to fall in love with Sokka. Or she could’ve been saying that if he were to fall in love with Sokka, he’d better take care of him. 

Either way, Zuko had no plans on falling in love with Sokka. This was just a business deal. Nothing more. 

As soon as Toph disappeared from sight, Sokka came strolling out of the general store, a much larger bag under his arm than what would be required for just a Reese’s peanut butter cup. 

“Were you talking to someone out here?” Sokka asked, leaning against the railing beside Zuko. 

“Yeah, Toph was just here but she left,” Zuko said. “I didn’t realize her parents owned this store.” 

“Oh yeah, Toph’s family is insanely rich. They either have a stake in or outright own nearly every business in the town,” Sokka explained. 

Zuko let out a low whistle. “I had no clue.” 

“She doesn’t make a point to brag about it,” Sokka shrugged. “Anyway, let’s get going. I gotta get to The Mechanist’s shop with this metal before he closes.” 

“The Mechanist?” Zuko questioned. 

“My old boss. He’s a wacky dude, you’ll have fun,” Sokka reassured him, squeezing Zuko’s shoulder lightly before heading towards the parking lot. Zuko hurried to catch up, ignoring the way his shoulder burned with the memory of Sokka’s touch. 

The Mechanist as it turned out, was an eccentric middle-aged man that looked like a living caricature of a mad scientist. His dark hair was spiked all over his head, his eyebrows were just several individual tufts of hair in the vague shape of a line, and he had a rather impressive beard. Apparently, Sokka had worked at his mechanic shop in high school, and the two still talked frequently. Sokka had ordered some special alloy for one of The Mechanist’s latest inventions, and was delivering it to his old boss. 

Along with The Mechanist, Zuko also met his son, Teo. Teo was a lot less intimidating than his father to talk to, and he kind of reminded Zuko of Aang in a way. While Sokka and The Mechanist talked about specs for the older man’s latest invention, Teo excitedly told Zuko about the time he had attached a remote control rocket booster to his wheelchair and nearly drove into the marina. Zuko wasn’t exactly sure what to do with that information, except telling Teo he probably shouldn’t try that again. 

It was interesting to watch Sokka in an environment like this. Zuko had seen him working before of course, but that had been hunched over desks and reading files. Now, Zuko was watching Sokka leaning over a workbench, fiddling with a strange metal contraption that Zuko couldn’t put a name to for the life of him. Pieces of his hair had fallen out of his ponytail band and were hanging in his face, but Sokka didn’t seem to notice as he fiddled with screws and bolts. There was a crease in between his eyebrows as he furrowed his brows in concentration, and just for a moment, Zuko was tempted to smooth it out with his thumb. 

Teo startled him out of his thoughts though as he offered to show Zuko his modified 4-wheeler, and Zuko forced himself to stop thinking about pushing strands of hair out of Sokka’s face. 

They were only there for about half an hour before Sokka said it was time to go. Zuko waved bye to both The Mechanist and Teo, and soon they driving down the highway once more. 

The ride back to the house was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Sokka had turned on one of his playlists and was humming to the music, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel in time with the beats. 

_”And I can tell just what you want_

_You don’t want to be alone.”_

Sokka mouthed along with the lyrics, and Zuko bopped his head in time with the rhythm. When Sokka noticed Zuko was grooving with him, a wide grin spread across his face and he turned the music up. 

Nothing was said between them, but it didn’t need to. Sokka handed Zuko his phone without comment, and Zuko immediately put a few good songs he knew in the spotify queue. The two of them spent the rest of the drive aggressively head banging and dancing to the songs while speeding down the highway. 

By the time they pulled into the driveway of the cabin, Sokka and Zuko were both slightly out of breath from their aggressive car dancing. Sokka cut the engine right as the last note of the song rang out, and the car fell silent. 

“You ready to get out on the water?” Sokka asked, gesturing to the glittering lake. 

Zuko looked out to the expanse of blue, the sun shining so brightly off the surface that it almost hurt his eyes to look at, and nodded. 

They climbed out of the car, Sokka shoving his Reese’s cups in his pocket as he beelined for the dock. Zuko followed at a slower pace, staring apprehensively at the water as he stepped onto the rickety wood. 

Sokka was standing by the orange raft that bobbed gently with the small waves rippling over the water. He was untying the rope that anchored it to the dock, and once the knot was undone, he hopped in the small boat with practiced ease. 

“Alright, get in,” Sokka said, gesturing for Zuko to join him. 

Zuko glanced between his shoes and the boat, gnawing on his lip and trying not to stare too hard at the dark surface of the water. 

“Wait, you can swim, can’t you?” Sokka asked, noticing Zuko’s apprehension. 

“Of course I can swim!” Zuko snapped. “I just don’t like cold water.” 

“Good thing you’re not getting in the water then,” Sokka said, gesturing once again to the boat. 

“What if it tips over?” Zuko challenged. 

“As long as you don’t try to lean your entire body to one side, we won’t,” Sokka reassured him. He reached out a hand towards Zuko. “Here, take my hand. I won’t let you fall. I promise.” 

Meeting Sokka’s gaze, Zuko only saw sincerity in there, and realized that he trusted what Sokka said. He wasn’t going to let Zuko fall. 

He grasped Sokka’s hand in his own, and used his other hand to balance against the dock as he stumbled into the boat. He fell on his knees once he was in, and the raft began to sway, sending Zuko’s stomach into his knees. But after a moment, the boat balanced out, and Sokka turned on the engine. 

“Thanks,” Zuko muttered, taking his hand back from Sokka’s and resting it in his lap. 

With the roar of the engine drowning out his thoughts, Zuko watched as Sokka began to steer the raft out into the lake, and watched as the shoreline grew smaller and smaller behind them. 

Zuko didn’t try to talk to Sokka as he drove the boat out. The engine would force them to shout anyway, and Zuko was interested to see where Sokka was taking him. 

They raced across the water, cutting two lines of white froth in the blue expanse behind them as they drove. The sun was even brighter out here, and Zuko almost wished he had brought sunglasses with him. The wind whipped his hair around his face, and at the very least, Zuko had brought his jacket and subsequently pulled it tighter around himself as the wind picked up. 

Soon, the boat began to slow. Sokka wasn’t looking at Zuko, only staring straight ahead as he steered the boat a bit to the right, before cutting the engine entirely and leaving them to float. 

Looking around, Zuko could see the shoreline in the distance, but it wasn’t anywhere close. 

“You brought us to the center of the lake?” Zuko asked, watching the small waves lap at the side of the raft. 

“Yup. I used to drive out here all the time as a teenager,” Sokka explained, leaning back in the raft with his hands behind his head. “It was a nice way to get some alone time.” 

“Or a nice way to get sunburnt,” Zuko joked. 

Sokka snorted. “Maybe for your pasty ass. It only ever made me more bronze than I already am,” Sokka said, pretending to flip his hair over his shoulder. 

“Good to know you’re not worried about skin cancer,” Zuko replied. Sokka flipped him off without looking up, making Zuko laugh as he gently tried to lean back to mimic Sokka’s position without rocking the raft. 

“Seriously though, this place is really nice,” Zuko said after a moment, closing his eyes as the sun warmed his face. “I can see why you liked coming out here.” There was a strange peacefulness that came with sitting in the center of the lake. Zuko could hear birds chittering from the trees that lined the water, despite how far away they were from the shore. There was a light breeze that ruffled his hair, one that was cool but not too cool. The waves were softly hitting the side of the boat, rocking it back and forth in a soothing manner. If Zuko wanted to, he could probably fall asleep here. 

“Yeah,” Sokka murmured. “It was where I’d go whenever I was upset about something.” 

“I can see that,” Zuko muttered in reply. He could picture a younger Sokka—with less of a jawline, probably shorter and a bit skinnier—upset at the world and spending the afternoon laying in the sun, trying to stop thinking of whatever was bothering him. 

For a moment, it was quiet between the two of them as they laid head to head in the raft. A bird flew overhead, it’s blue wings almost blending into the azure sky above their heads. 

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo,” Zuko said after a moment. During their naked run in, he’d gotten a glimpse of Sokka’s back while he’d been running to try and hide behind the bathroom door, and spotted the tattoo across the top of his shoulder blades. 

“Oh, yeah. Forgot you would’ve seen that,” Sokka said, tone unreadable. 

“It was the phases of the moon, right?” Zuko asked, remembering the black outlines of ink he’d seen. Sokka hummed in affirmation, but didn’t say anything further, so Zuko continued on. “How old were you when you got it?” 

“I got it as soon as I turned 18,” Sokka answered. “It’d been something I’d been thinking about getting for a while.” 

“Does it have any special meaning?” Zuko asked, genuinely curious what the tattoo represented. In the moment, he’d been so freaked out by the entire situation that he hadn’t even registered the tattoo. But looking back, it was obvious that it hadn’t been something random he’d gotten on a whim. The different phases stretched out over his shoulders, going from the new moon on the far left side of his back, all the way to the full moon right under his neck at the top of his spine, and back to the new moon on his right side. 

Sokka was silent for a moment. Then, he just muttered a, “yeah.” He didn’t elaborate further than that though, and Zuko decided not to push it if it was personal. 

A somber cloud hung above the boat. Zuko was worried he had messed up and upset Sokka with the question, but the silence didn’t feel angry. It just felt… reminiscent. 

“Have you ever wanted to get a tattoo?” Sokka asked after several minutes of silence. 

“I’ve thought about it,” Zuko shrugged. “But I don’t know what I’d get.” 

“I could see you getting, like, a dragon or something,” Sokka said, tapping his fingers along the edge of the boat. “Something badass and cool, but not overly edgy.” 

Zuko blinked, trying to picture himself with a dragon tattoo. That wasn’t a bad idea. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Zuko replied in a noncommittal voice. “But I have to point out: you just indirectly said I’m badass and cool.” 

“Wh- no I didn’t!” Sokka protested, bolting upright. “I said you’d get a tattoo that’s badass and cool. Not that _you_ are.” 

Zuko smirked and sat up as well. “Come on, admit it. You think I’m cool.” 

Huffing, Sokka folded his arms over his chest. “No way. I’ve seen you cry after I handed you a bag of Hostess mini donuts during one of our work all nighters. There’s no coming back from that as cool.” 

“I’d like to argue though,” Zuko said, holding up a finger, “that Hostess mini donuts are definitely worth crying over and thus I was in the right to do that.” 

“Dammit, you got me there,” Sokka cursed, glowering at him. Zuko laughed at this, and Sokka began to laugh too. “That doesn’t mean you’re cool though.” 

“Wow, you’re so mean to your fiance,” Zuko deadpanned. 

“Look, I know you were an emo teen in high school who listened to MCR all the time, that automatically disqualifies you from being cool.” 

Zuko scoffed. “Oh like you never listened to MCR.” 

“I did, but only Danger Days which is not really emo,” Sokka argued. 

“You can’t say that! It totally is!” Zuko protested. “Besides, I didn’t only listen to emo stuff in high school. I listened to a lot of other stuff too.” 

“Oh? Like what?” Despite the teasing vibe of their conversation, Sokka’s question didn’t sound like a challenge or a joke. It sounded like he was genuinely curious. 

“Oh, uh,” Zuko struggled to think back to what he listened to as a teenager. “Well, I mostly listened to Japanese bands, since yknow, I lived in Japan. As far as like, what was on brand for my emo phase or whatever you call it, there was a heavy metal band I liked a lot. Have you ever seen Death Note?” Sokka nodded. “Well, you remember the super intense heavy metal second opening? This was that band. They’re called Maximum the Hormone, and I listened to them all the time when I was 17.”

“Jesus, that second opening was like screamo,” Sokka commented. “You listened to that stuff?” 

Zuko chuckled. “Yup. I actually liked heavy metal and screamo more than I liked punk rock.” 

“Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised by that but I am,” Sokka said. “Do you still listen to that stuff? Because if so, I’m never letting you take aux in my car again so I don’t get my eardrums blown out.” 

“Eh, not so much anymore,” Zuko shrugged. “I like chill stuff more now. There’s this one Japanese artist I like named Vaundy, his stuff is pretty indie.” Sokka hummed in consideration, and Zuko glanced over to him. “What about you? What music do you like?” 

And that’s how the conversation went. Sokka told Zuko all about his wide array of music tastes (Zuko was alarmed to find out that Sokka had Post Malone, Glass Animals, and Taylor Swift all on one playlist). Then, Zuko told Sokka about different Japanese bands he’d think he’d like. Sokka then started asking for tv show recommendations, which led to Zuko ranting about Game of Thrones for nearly thirty minutes straight. 

The two ended up talking for what was probably several hours. It was odd, but Zuko was pretty sure this was the first time in their three year relationship that they had actually just hung out and talked. And Zuko found himself enjoying every minute of it. 

Eventually, while the sun was nowhere near setting, Sokka checked his phone and realized they were late for dinner. He steered them back to the dock, and ended up having to endure a 5 minute scolding from Katara for their tardiness. 

Strangely though, Zuko couldn’t bring himself to mind this. He’d never had someone yell at him for being late because his food had gotten cold before. 

Maybe that was why he couldn’t stop smiling during dinner.

🜲 🜲

During dinner, Sokka let the bomb drop that Katara and Zuko had dated the same guy. This had led to Katara and Zuko both yelling, a lot of laughter from Aang and Dad, and even a bit of giggling from Gran-Gran. Katara and Zuko ended up spending the rest of the meal talking about what a horrible boyfriend he was, which was a rather weird but cute bonding experience that Sokka was glad he got to witness. 

What Sokka had learned from listening to Katara and Zuko’s conversation was that Jet talked in his sleep. According to Katara, the funniest thing she ever heard him say was when he started ranting about Trump supporters during a nap. According to Zuko, the weirdest thing Jet had ever said in his sleep was when he bolted upright in bed and started yelling about needing a guillotine for Jeff Bezos. 

Apparently a lot of his dreams involved the mantra ‘eat the rich’. 

After dinner, Zuko offered to help clean the dishes like he had that morning, and Sokka decided to stay with him while he did this. He leaned against the counter, drying dishes with a striped rag and putting them away before Zuko handed him another. 

Once that was finished, Sokka and Zuko both said goodnight to Gran-Gran and Dad, and then went upstairs to Sokka’s room. Unsurprisingly, the sun was only just starting to dip towards the horizon, despite the fact that it was pretty late in the evening. 

When they got into the hallway, Sokka and Zuko both spotted Katara dragging Aang into her room. Sokka made a gagging face while Zuko patted his back comfortingly. 

Soon, Sokka’s blackout curtains had been shut, they were buried under blankets, and ready to go to sleep. 

“You comfy?” Sokka asked as he fluffed his pillow under his head. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Zuko said, and Sokka felt him shift. 

It was quiet for a moment. Somehow, Sokka could tell Zuko wanted to ask him something, so he waited. 

“Hey Sokka?” Zuko asked after a minute. 

“Yeah?” 

“Uh, you don’t have to tell me if it’s personal, but what did you and your dad talk about earlier today?” 

The question made Sokka sigh. He’d had a feeling Zuko was going to ask about that. 

A few days ago, Sokka would never even consider telling him about his issues with his father. Hell, yesterday he probably wouldn’t have told Zuko about what was going on. But today had been… different. They had talked. A lot. They had joked and teased, talked about their music tastes, talked about things they liked, and Sokka could honestly say he liked hanging out with Zuko. As he had realized earlier that day in the shower, Zuko was his friend now. 

So he decided to answer honestly. 

“It’s not a big deal, it’s an argument we have pretty much every time I come home to visit,” Sokka said, gazing into the darkness above his head, only able to make out the faintest hint of light coming in from his blacked out windows. “He’s always asking when I’m gonna move back here permanently. I always find some way to put it off or to just end the conversation without giving him a real answer. But I know he’s getting impatient.” 

“Why does he want you to come back here when you already have a life in New York?” Zuko asked. 

“Because he expects me to take over the family business,” Sokka explained, messing with a few strands of his hair. “He needs someone to take control of the boat after he retires, and since Katara’s going to medical school to become a doctor, I’m the only one who can do it.” 

“So… you don’t have a choice? You’re going to have to leave New York eventually?” For some reason, Zuko’s voice sounded strained. Sokka found himself imagining that it was because Zuko didn’t want him to move away. 

“I don’t know.” Sokka sighed and rolled over so he was facing Zuko in the dark. “If I went up to my dad and outright said I’m not going to take over the boat, I don’t think he’d try to force me. But it would really hurt him, because our fishing business has been in the family for 3 generations now. If I don’t do this, I’ll be letting our entire family legacy go.” 

A beat of silence passed. Sokka didn’t try to elaborate, and Zuko was silent as he came up with a response. 

“In my personal experience, family legacies aren’t the most important thing,” he began, his rough voice softer than usual. “While it seems like a big deal to just abandon what your grandparents and your great-grandparents life works, it’s not going to last forever, no matter what you do. And sometimes, the legacies aren’t even worth saving. I think that nostalgia makes them seem a bit more special than they actually are.” 

Sokka blinked, wishing he could see Zuko’s expression in the darkness. 

“I haven’t thought about it that way,” Sokka muttered. “I don’t know. It just feels like I’m betraying my family if I don’t do this.” 

“You may be,” Zuko said, without a hint of hesitation in his voice. “But what’s more important? What you want? Or doing what your dead family members want you to?” Zuko paused, and Sokka could hear him curling and curling his fingers in the bedsheets. “I know what it’s like to have an expectation placed on you just because of what your family legacy dictates you should do. Being told how to act, how to speak, how to live, how to be _enough_ , just so you can appease people who aren’t even around anymore. It’s… suffocating.” 

The raw honesty startled Sokka. He swallowed the lump in his throat and shifted on his pillow so he was a bit closer to Zuko, and he could hear Zuko’s soft breaths. 

“That helps a lot,” Sokka whispered. “I’m still not sure what I’m going to do, but I haven’t thought of it that way before. So thank you.” 

“All I did was offer some advice, you don’t need to thank me,” Zuko whispered back. 

Sokka didn’t know how to explain what he was thanking Zuko for. Sure, he was thanking him for the advice. But it wasn’t just about the fact that his advice was unlike any advice Sokka had heard so far. It was also about the fact that Zuko had just told Sokka a little more about himself, and his family. 

The thing about Zuko was that Sokka always felt like he was hiding shards of his past, beneath dozens and dozens of layers. Every time he found out something new about him, it would open the door to even more questions about his past. Sokka hadn’t known his mother had died, he hadn’t known his father and him weren’t close, he hadn’t known his sister apparently didn’t care if he wound up in prison. Now, he knew all these things, and he also knew that there was a family legacy Zuko had been expected to carry, but didn’t. 

But now he had so many more questions. Questions about Zuko, the legacy he had been expected to uphold, the reason he left his home country to work for his uncle, the reason he was so desperate not to have to go back there. Zuko was one of the most mysterious people Sokka had ever met, because no matter how much he found out about him, he felt like he was no closer to unraveling him. 

But it was late. Zuko was his friend, but even that was relatively new. Sokka wasn’t going to pester him with questions. Not when he had already given Sokka yet another piece to the never ending puzzle that was Zuko as a whole. No, Sokka was going to quell his curiosity, just for tonight. 

Instead, Sokka shifted once again, just so he was a little bit closer to his friend. He felt his fingers bump against warm skin, and although Zuko jumped, he didn’t move his hand away. Sokka let his hand stay there as well, just barely touching Zuko’s. A silent reminder that he was there. That he would still be there even though Sokka couldn’t see him, and that he was going to have the chance to unravel him some day. 

In the dark room, Sokka couldn’t see Zuko smiling as he let himself slip into sleep. But Zuko couldn’t see Sokka smiling either, so it was a fair trade-off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so quick note: usually in modern aus I hc hakoda as like, just a normal commercial fisherman BUT the extent of my commercial fishing knowledge comes from watching deadliest catch so we're just making him an alaskan crab fisherman
> 
> (which also gives me the great mental image of hakoda being on deadliest catch and complaining to the tv crew about how his son doesn't wanna take over the boat) (sorry hakoda but crab fishing really isn't a desirable career choice to most people)
> 
> ANYWAY while i'm trying not to copy a lot of scenes from the movie exactly, i just _had_ to do the naked run-in scene bc how could i not. either way the mental image of zuko screaming WHY ARE YOU WET nearly made me choke
> 
> oh and we got azula! she likely won't have a very prominent role in the rest of the fic but I wanted to bring her in at least once so we got some great threatening from her followed by zuko calling her out on her shit so I hope you guys enjoyed that lol
> 
> overall this chapter was a lot of fun to write, but i am EXTREMELY excited to get the next one done so be on the look out for that ;) make sure to leave a comment if you liked it! they really make my day :)) 
> 
> hmu on tumblr and yell with me about zukka pls @thatsnotrelevant


	4. what's the point of an emotional breakdown if you don't make a dramatic exit?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanna has a Brilliant Idea, an unwelcome face comes to visit, and Aang can't hold his liquor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! thank you all so so much for how much love you gave the last chapter, I kept refreshing the page constantly to see if new comments popped up they all mean so much to me :)
> 
> as a thank you here is a WHOPPER of a chapter. I really didn't expect this fic to just have giant ass chapters so I hope that's alright with you guys, either way you're in for a long one
> 
> this is a really fun chapter with a scene that was pretty much the whole reason I started this fic in the first place, so I hope you guys like it!

Sokka woke up to something warm pressed up against his body. 

In his sleep-addled state, it took Sokka a moment to get a bearing on where all of his limbs were. He was in his bed, he knew that much. There was something warm pressed against his body, and his arm was swung over something soft. When Sokka shifted his face slightly, he felt hair brush against his nose. He was also pretty sure his legs were tangled with somebody else’s. 

It took him a minute to remember who he was sharing a bed with. When he did though, his eyes flew open. 

Sokka found himself pressed right up against Zuko’s back. His arm was slung over Zuko’s waist, and his chin was resting on Zuko’s shoulder. The reason he felt hair brush against his nose was because his face was half-pressed into Zuko’s hair. 

His hair smelled like Sokka’s shampoo. It was strangely comforting. 

This was a problem though. If Sokka moved, he might wake Zuko up. But Zuko was going to wake up eventually anyway, and was going to find out Sokka had started spooning him in his sleep like some kind of perv. 

Sokka had to find a way out of this. But he had no ideas. Zuko was pressed up against Sokka and he could feel every breath Zuko took. Not to mention, his heart was pounding like crazy, and he was almost surprised it hadn’t woken Zuko up. 

A few minutes passed. Sokka didn’t dare move, but he also had no clue what his plan should be. Curse his sleeping self for being such a clingy shit. 

Soon, Zuko began to stir. Sokka remained frozen, before deciding his best course of action was to pretend to still be sleeping. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to even out his breathing, ignoring the way his heart stuttered when Zuko’s hand fell on top of the one Sokka had resting on his waist. 

Then, he felt Zuko turn. It was slow, careful, and Sokka realized he was trying to turn over without dislodging Sokka’s arm on his waist. 

When Sokka let his eyes flutter open, he was met with Zuko’s golden gaze only inches from his face. 

“Hi,” Sokka whispered, fully aware that his arm was still wrapped around Zuko. 

“Hey,” Zuko whispered back. 

There was a moment where Sokka felt like time was frozen. He was staring at Zuko’s face, he could feel Zuko’s soft breaths rising and falling on his side, and for the life of him, Sokka didn’t want to move. 

Then, the moment passed, and Sokka regained his senses. His cheeks flushed as he pulled his hand back and scooted backwards on the bed until there was a more normal distance between him and Zuko. 

“Sorry about that,” Sokka said at normal volume. “I should’ve warned you, I cuddle in my sleep sometimes.” 

“It’s okay,” Zuko replied, turning to look at the ceiling. 

Zuko looking away from him sent an odd pang through Sokka’s chest. He wasn’t sure why that upset him. But it seemed like Zuko was trying to hide his expressions from Sokka, and Sokka didn’t like that. 

Before Sokka could think on that further though, there was a knock at the door that made him bolt upright. 

“Boys?” Sokka’s stomach dropped when he heard Gran-Gran’s voice on the other side of the door. “May I come in?” 

Sokka and Zuko exchanged wide-eyed looks, both realizing they were now sitting much further apart than most couples did when they were in bed together. In a moment of perfect silent communication between them, Sokka immediately sat up against his headboard while Zuko practically threw himself on top of Sokka. Sokka wrapped an arm around Zuko’s shoulders, and Zuko rested his head on Sokka’s chest. Unsure of what to do with his free hand, Sokka eventually settled on resting it on top of Zuko’s hair. 

Once they were in proper cuddling positions, Sokka called out. 

“Yeah Gran-Gran, we’re good!” 

The door creaked open, and Gran-Gran’s head appeared in the doorway. She had a tray in her hands, and when she fully entered the room, Sokka could see it was piled high with breakfast food. 

“Oh Gran-Gran! You didn’t have to do that!” Sokka exclaimed, moving to get up and help her with the tray. 

Gran-Gran waved him back down as she rushed towards the curtains to pull them up, letting sunlight in. “Don’t be ridiculous, a grandmother is allowed to make her grandchildren breakfast in bed if she wants.” She set the tray down at the end of Sokka’s bed, and Sokka’s mouth watered when he saw she had made his favorite chocolate chip pancakes. 

“Thank you, Gran-Gran, that was really sweet of you,” Sokka said, absently beginning to run his fingers through Zuko’s hair. 

“Yeah, thank you, Kanna,” Zuko said, smiling at Gran-Gran. 

“Of course. Obviously I don’t know when I’m going to see you next, or if I’m even going to get to see you again before my time here is up, so I want to take advantage of being able to take care of my grandson and his fiancé while I can,” Gran-Gran explained. 

“Don’t say that, Gran-Gran! Of course you’re going to see us again!” Sokka exclaimed, not even wanting to consider the idea of not seeing his grandma again before she died. 

“You don’t need to humor me like that, sweetheart. I’m 90 now, I know I’ve been blessed to have as much time as I’ve gotten. I just like to make sure I’m taking advantage of every moment,” Gran-Gran continued, giving them both warm smiles. After a moment though, her smile faltered. “Though I will admit, I am worried that I might pass on without seeing either of my grandchildren married. Do you two have a date set yet?” 

Sokka and Zuko glanced at each other, before shaking their heads in unison. 

Gran-Gran hummed. She brought her hand to her chin in thought, before her eyes lit up. “Oh I just had a wonderful idea! But I need to talk it over with your father first. Come down whenever you’re finished with breakfast.” 

And without giving Sokka or Zuko a chance to ask what her idea was, Gran-Gran hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind her. 

Once she was gone, Sokka sighed against his headboard in relief, and Zuko sunk even further into Sokka’s chest. 

“She didn’t seem suspicious of us, so that’s good,” Sokka said, staring at the ceiling. 

“Yeah, that’s good,” Zuko agreed. “But does she always talk about dying like that?” 

Sokka shrugged. “I’ve noticed her doing it more as she gets older. I think it’s an old people thing.” 

“I guess so,” Zuko said. 

The two fell quiet for a moment, and that was when Sokka realized neither of them had moved out of their cuddling positions. Zuko’s head was still resting on Sokka’s chest, and Sokka’s fingers were still carding through Zuko’s hair. 

Sokka was certain Zuko could hear his pounding heartbeat, and when Zuko’s eyes flickered up to Sokka’s face, he was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat all together. The corners of Zuko’s lips curled up into a smirk, and Sokka felt himself smiling back. 

His fingers slowed, and after another moment of silence between them, Zuko shifted and sat up, away from Sokka. Internally, Sokka mourned the kiss of the weight on his chest. 

Zuko reached for the breakfast tray and pulled it over. He began to divide the stack of pancakes on their two plates, and Sokka watched. There was something about Zuko today that made it so Sokka just couldn’t stop watching him. Maybe it was the way his hair was falling in his eyes, or maybe it was how the sunlight from his window was falling right across Zuko’s face, making his eyes glow. 

Sokka’s gaze dropped to Zuko’s lips, just for a moment, and his mouth felt dry. 

“Here you go,” Zuko said, handing Sokka a plate of pancakes and effectively breaking Sokka out of his thoughts. 

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Sokka said, taking the plate and setting it on his lap. What was getting into him? 

He watched Zuko make himself his own plate, and a thought occurred to Sokka. 

“You’d make a good househusband,” he teased. 

Snorting, Zuko rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I wouldn't. I can’t cook for shit.” 

“That’s fine, you can just be my trophy husband and I’ll bring takeout home every night,” Sokka joked, taking a sip of his coffee. 

“Finally I can realize my dream. Looking pretty and doing nothing,” Zuko deadpanned. 

“I mean, you’ve kinda already been doing that since we started working together, haven’t you?” Sokka said with a smirk. 

Zuko gasped before punching Sokka lightly in the arm, sending Sokka into a fit of giggles. “Excuse me! I’m still your boss, you know.” 

“I think we abandoned professionalism the day you decided to use me to commit immigration fraud,” Sokka pointed out. 

Zuko laughed. “Fair enough,” he said, turning back to his pancakes. 

The two ate for a few minutes, the only sound being the clinking of forks against plates broken only by the occasional sip of coffee. At one point, Sokka’s hair fell into his face and he tucked it behind his ear without thinking about it. He continued to eat, but felt someone staring at him. When he looked up, he locked eyes with Zuko. 

“What’s up?” Sokka asked. 

“Oh, um,” Zuko quickly averted his eyes. “I just don’t see you with your hair down very often.” 

Sokka blinked. “Oh. Yeah, I don’t sleep with it up.” 

“Yeah, I noticed,” Zuko said, before shaking his head at how stupid that sounded. “It looks good though.” 

“Huh?” Sokka’s cheeks began to heat up. 

“You should wear it down more often. Your hair.” Zuko was very pointedly not looking at Sokka now, while Sokka couldn’t stop looking at Zuko. 

“Thanks,” Sokka said, mind racing at the compliment. He only rarely left his hair down when he wasn’t sleeping. It wasn’t something he ever thought looked particularly good. But… “Maybe I’ll leave it down today,” he muttered. 

Beside Sokka, Zuko hid his smile by taking another bite of pancake.

🜲 🜲

After they had finished breakfast, they both got dressed and headed downstairs to see the rest of the family. True to his word, Sokka left his hair down, and Zuko found it difficult to stop glancing in his direction.

Downstairs, the rest of Sokka’s family was already together. Aang and Katara were sitting on the couch, Aang’s arm thrown around her shoulders. Unsurprisingly, Toph was there as well, sitting on the opposite side of the couch with her feet thrown across Aang’s lap. Hakoda was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the dining table as he spoke with Kanna. Kanna was sitting at the head of the table, writing things down in a notepad. 

When Zuko and Sokka came downstairs, everyone’s heads whipped up to look at them. 

“Hey guys!” Aang greeted, clearly over the traumatic incident he had borne witness to yesterday. 

“Morning you two,” Katara said, waving lazily from where her head was resting on Aang’s shoulder. 

“Is that Snoozles and Sparky?” Toph asked, Badgermole and her lifting their heads at the same time. 

“Sparky?” Zuko questioned. 

“Yeah! I finally came up with a nickname for you!” Toph announced proudly. 

A small grin spread across Zuko’s face at this. He had a feeling that getting a nickname from Toph meant she liked you, and there was a strange pride that came with knowing he’d gotten Toph’s approval. 

In his head, he heard her words from yesterday again. The ominous warning she’d given him. He still wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but now wasn’t the place to ask. 

“I’ll take it, it’s better than Snoozles at least,” Zuko said, smirking at Sokka. 

“Hey!” Sokka protested. 

“What? It’s true.” Sokka punched Zuko in the arm, and he laughed. 

“Hey, no fighting,” Hakoda called from the dining table, although there was no anger in his voice. Sokka dropped his fist, and Hakoda continued. “Also can you two come here? Your grandmother has an idea she wants to share with you.” 

“Yeah, sure, what’s up, Gran-Gran?” Sokka asked, dragging Zuko over to the dining table where they both sat down across from the elderly woman. 

“Well,” Kanna began, “you know how I said I was worried that I wasn’t going to be around for your wedding?” Sokka and Zuko both nodded, and Kanna smiled. “You’re free to refuse my idea, but I’d imagine neither of you would want a particularly large wedding. If that is the case, I propose we hold a small wedding for you two before you leave back to New York.” 

Sokka and Zuko both blinked. 

“But… we leave the day after tomorrow,” Sokka said slowly. 

Hakoda nodded. “So you would get married tomorrow.” There was something in his voice that told Zuko he wasn’t completely on board with this idea, but was going along with it for Kanna’s sake. 

“It wouldn’t have to be your real, legally binding wedding,” Kanna jumped in. “You could think of it almost like a practice wedding. Just a small ceremony to give this old woman some peace of mind.” 

“Oh! A practice wedding sounds like a lot of fun!” Aang chimed in from the couch. 

“My mom could plan it,” Toph added. “She’s always looking for an excuse to plan a fancy party or whatever.” 

Looking back at the couch, Zuko saw Aang grinning widely, Toph looking to be on the verge of laughter, while Katara seemed more concerned. Then, Zuko and Sokka looked at each other. It was obvious to Zuko that they were both thinking the same thing. Neither of them wanted to make Kanna sad. She clearly was convinced she wasn’t going to live to see their real wedding (despite the fact that Zuko was pretty sure she didn’t have any major health issues), and wanted to see her grandson get married. Zuko was also pretty sure he and Sokka hadn’t planned on even having a real wedding, instead opting to go to the courthouse since this wasn’t even a real marriage. 

It would make Kanna happy to go along with this ‘practice wedding’ idea. But Zuko was conflicted. Up until this point, marrying Sokka had been more of an abstract idea than anything else. They were going to do it, but Zuko hadn’t actually thought about what it would be like to really _marry_ him. Sokka probably just wanted to make his grandmother happy, so he was willing to go along with this. It was up to Zuko whether or not they actually did it though. 

After a moment of silence, Zuko forced a grin. “That sounds like a great idea.” 

Kanna beamed, and Sokka gave Zuko a grateful look. Meanwhile, Zuko could only feel a pit form in his stomach. 

Things moved quickly after that. Toph called her mom to start preparing things for the wedding. Aang was excitedly babbling about how he’d never attended a real wedding before. Katara didn’t seem angry, but she wasn’t happy either. Hakoda has a similar expression on his face, except he was hiding his troubles with a forced smile. 

Sokka and Zuko were both quiet. Sharing worried looks because of the knowledge that this entire thing was a sham. 

Eventually, everyone dispersed. Toph said she had to go work details out with her mother, and Hakoda figured he should join them. Aang also tagged along, saying he was curious how a wedding was planned. Katara decided to drag Sokka away, saying she wanted to make sure his old suit still fit, but it was obvious she just wanted to talk to him in private. 

This left only Zuko and Kanna. 

“Thank you for agreeing to this,” Kanna said after Katara and Sokka had left the room. “I know it’s not a very conventional thing.” 

“It’s no problem,” Zuko replied, his voice hoarser than usual. 

“Like I said, this isn’t a real wedding. But if there’s anyone from your family you’d like to attend, we can fly them out here,” Kanna told him. 

Zuko thought back to Uncle. He imagined him coming up here, meeting all of Sokka’s family, and watching Zuko agree to a sham marriage. Zuko didn’t want him to witness that. He didn’t want his Uncle to watch him lie to all these people. 

“The only people I can think to invite would be my Uncle and cousin, but they’re likely busy with work,” Zuko explained, looking at the table. “Besides, they’ll be able to come to the real thing.” 

“Are you close with your uncle?” Kanna asked. 

“Yes,” Zuko nodded. “In all honesty, he’s been more of a father to me than my own father has.” 

“He must be a good man then. To bring up a boy as good as you.” Zuko looked up at that, and saw Kanna was wearing a gentle smile. 

“You’re giving me too much credit I think,” Zuko muttered. 

“But you are a good man,” Kanna said. “You’re hardworking, and you’re kind. I can tell you’ve been through hard times, but you’ve still managed to persevere and make a life for yourself.” Then Kanna laughed. “Plus, I can tell you make my grandson very happy.” 

Kind. Zuko can’t remember the last time someone called him that. 

“But… I’m the reason Sokka hasn’t been able to come home in so long,” Zuko said softly, looking back to his hands. 

“But you’re here now, aren’t you?” Kanna asked, reaching over to rest her hand on top of his. “I wasn’t sure about your relationship when you two first came home, but I see the way you two look at each other. I see how happy Sokka is when he is around you. As an old woman, you get a good sense for people. So I know that you’re going to make a wonderful addition to this family. I’m proud of the fact that I’m going to be able to call you my grandson soon.” 

A thick lump had now formed in Zuko’s throat, and his eyes began to burn. Everything Kanna was saying was wrong. He wasn’t kind. He wasn’t good. He was a liar. 

“Zuko?” Kanna asked after a moment. Zuko glanced up, struggling to keep his composure. “I know that tomorrow, Hakoda is going to be walking with Sokka to the altar. Since you said your uncle cannot make it, how would you feel about me escorting you?” 

Zuko imagined tomorrow. Walking down the aisle towards Sokka, with all of his friends and family watching, Kanna smiling beside him. Everyone there to celebrate him joining Sokka’s family. Saying the vows, and knowing none of them were true. 

“A-Alright,” Zuko stammered, blinking rapidly. “I’m sorry, but can I-“ 

“Go collect yourself, sweetheart,” Kanna said, smiling as she waved him away. “There’s nothing wrong with having a sensitive heart.” 

Nodding, Zuko stumbled out of the kitchen, barely able to see because of the tears swimming in his vision. He had to get out of here. He couldn’t sit at that table any longer, listening to Kanna giving him praise he didn’t deserve. 

Rushing into the backyard, Zuko could just barely make out Sokka sitting on the dock, resting near the raft they had taken out yesterday. He couldn’t do this. He had to get away from the house, just so he could collect his thoughts. 

Zuko ran to the dock, ignoring Sokka and jumping into the raft. 

“How do you start this thing?” He demanded, keeping his face turned only towards the engine so Sokka wouldn’t see he was crying. 

“Wh- Zuko wait what’s wrong-“ 

“Just tell me how to start this thing!” Zuko shouted. 

“Here, just-“ Sokka climbed into the boat beside Zuko, and pointed to a red switch. “That one.” 

Nodding, Zuko flipped the switch and the engine roared to life. Grabbing the steering rod, Zuko gassed it and drove away from the dock, making Sokka fall backwards in the boat with the force. 

“Zuko can you tell me what’s going on?!” Sokka yelled, pushing himself upright. 

Zuko ignored him. His heart was still pounding and he couldn’t stop hearing Kanna’s words repeating over and over in his head. _You’re a good man._ and _I’m proud that I’m going to be able to call you my grandson soon._

“Zuko!” Sokka grabbed Zuko’s shoulders. “Fucking talk to me! What happened?!” 

“I can’t do this, Sokka!” Zuko yelled over the engine, steering them towards the center of the lake. “We’re lying to your entire family. When they find out about this they’re going to be heartbroken!” Then, a horrible realization occurred to him. “Jesus- when Kanna finds out about this she’s going to have a heart attack! She could fucking die when she finds out we’re lying to her!” 

“She’s not going to find out, none of them are!” Sokka yelled back. “It’s going to be fine, Zuko. Trust me, I wouldn’t have agreed to this if it wouldn’t!” 

Zuko shook his head. He was betraying Sokka’s family. Kanna, Hakoda, Aang—they were all genuinely happy for him and Sokka and he was lying to their faces. 

More tears fell down Zuko’s cheeks, which cleared his vision up enough to see the buoy in the middle of the lake they were heading straight for. 

“Shit!” Sokka yelped, seeing it at the same time Zuko did. “Zuko move over!” He pushed Zuko aside and this time Zuko didn’t fight it. He scooted to the side of the boat and buried his head in his hands, struggling to calm his panicked breathing. 

Suddenly, there was a sharp turn as Sokka narrowly avoided the buoy. One minute, Zuko was sitting in the raft behind Sokka. The next minute, he felt himself go tumbling to the side. 

Then, he was engulfed by water. 

As he had expected, the water was freezing. It was so cold that for a moment, Zuko couldn’t move. He sank below the surface, everything in his body turning to ice. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. 

Then, instinct kicked in and Zuko was able to use his limbs again. He swam up, head breaking through the surface letting his cough up the water he’d accidentally inhaled when he’d gone under. His hair was plastered to his face, and he struggled to see where the raft had gone. 

Then, he saw it speeding away from him, Sokka looking like he hadn’t even realized Zuko was no longer in the raft. 

“Sokka!” Zuko yelled, forcing himself to start swimming towards the nearby buoy. He managed to grab onto the slick metal, and tried again. “SOKKA!” 

Sokka was still speeding away, but at that moment he glanced behind him like he was going to tell Zuko something. Then, he saw the empty raft, and his head whipped towards the buoy where Zuko was trying to wave him down. 

Instantly, Sokka spun the boat in a full 180 and started speeding back towards Zuko. Holding onto the buoy, Zuko tried to ignore how he was already losing feeling in the lower half of his body. 

The boat approached, and Sokka slowed down until he was floating right in front of the buoy. Sokka leaned over the side, holding his hand out. 

“Zuko, grab my hand!” Sokka shouted. 

Gritting his teeth, Zuko forced himself to stick his numb hand out, and Sokka wrapped his hand around his wrist in an iron grip. Yanking his other hand off the buoy, Zuko let Sokka pull him up and into the raft, both grunting as they tried to get him over the edge. 

Finally, Zuko felt the canvas beneath him once more, and Sokka collapsed beside him. The air was freezing against his wet skin, and Zuko began to shiver as he struggled to catch his breath. 

“Jesus Christ, how’d you fall out of the boat?!” Sokka asked as he sat Zuko up, immediately taking his jacket off to wrap around Zuko’s shoulders. 

“Y-You turned t-too fast,” Zuko gasped between chattering teeth. “A-asshole.” 

“Yeah, because you decided to hijack the raft and didn’t look where you were going,” Sokka pointed out, zipping the jacket up. “Shit, we need to warm you up,” he then muttered. 

Settling himself beside Zuko, Sokka wrapped his arms around Zuko’s shivering frame, and pulled Zuko’s head to his chest. Compared to Zuko, right now Sokka was like a space heater, and Zuko curled into him. 

A few minutes passed, and warmth began to seep back into Zuko. His shivering slowed, and Sokka continued to rub his hands up and down Zuko’s arms. 

“I’m sorry,” Zuko said after a moment. “I shouldn’t have freaked out like that.” 

“It’s okay,” Sokka reassured him. “I get it. I know you’re just worried about my family, and I appreciate it. But I promise, it’ll be fine. Besides Katara, no one else knows we’re not actually together. To them, we’ll just get married, then a year later we’ll get a quick divorce and be done.” 

“Uh, actually,” Zuko cut in, “Toph also knows.” 

Sokka’s hands running along Zuko’s arms suddenly went still, and he gaped. “She _what?_ ” 

“I didn’t tell her!” Zuko quickly said. “She figured it out on her own. She said she can usually tell if people are lying because she’s good at reading tones of voices.” 

“She…” Sokka blinked a few times, an expression of horror slowly dawning across his face. “SHE’S BEEN ABLE TO TELL IF I’M LYING THIS WHOLE TIME?!” He shouted, leaping back from Zuko. 

“I guess?” Zuko shrugged. 

Groaning, Sokka buried his hands in his face. “Oh my god. This is terrible. This means she knows I lied that time when she asked if I drew anything on her face while she slept and I lied and said I didn’t, even though I drew a dick on her forehead!” Shaking his head, Sokka sighed. “She’s been waiting to get revenge for that. Biding her time. I’m going to die.” 

“Hey, I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Zuko said, awkwardly patting Sokka’s back. A cool breeze blew past them, and Zuko shivered, remembering that he was still soaked with icy lake water. 

As if remembering this at the same time Zuko did, Sokka immediately straightened up from his hunched over position and wrapped his arms around Zuko once more. He brought a hand up to Zuko’s hair, and began carefully running his fingers through the inky strands, detangling it from where it had been knotted by the overboard incident. 

Zuko went very _very_ still at this. He was desperate for the warmth coming from Sokka’s body, but he was also very aware that this was an extremely intimate position for them to be in. No one else was around, they weren’t pretending to be coupley for Sokka’s family. It was just him and Sokka. And his heart was pounding. 

“Is, uh, are you warm?” Sokka asked softly. 

“I-I’m getting there,” Zuko answered, hoping his face wasn’t red. 

They stayed like this for a while. Both of them had gone quiet, watching the surface of the lake glitter under the sun. It was strangely peaceful, despite the harrowing experience Zuko had just endured. Slowly, the tension in Zuko’s body began to seep away. His shivering stopped, and he sagged against Sokka’s body, focusing on the sensation of Sokka’s fingers playing with his hair. 

It was during this moment of respite—a brief period where his thoughts weren’t overwhelmed with all of his anxieties about this situation—that Zuko realized something. 

He was so extremely grateful that out of everyone he could’ve gotten stuck in this mess with, it had ended up being Sokka.

🜲 🜲

Sokka wasn’t sure why he started running his fingers through Zuko’s hair after the Water Incident. Maybe it had been because he was shivering so violently, and Sokka just wanted to try to calm him down. Or maybe it had been because only minutes before, Zuko had had tears stream down his cheeks as he screamed about how he couldn’t do this anymore. Sokka had never seen Zuko have a breakdown like that before. He had to comfort him somehow.

Either way, it felt right. He waited as Zuko’s shivering stopped, carding his fingers through the thick, dark hair that always fell right in front of Zuko’s eyes. And when it was clear that it wasn’t cold anymore, Sokka still waited a few more minutes. Just watching the lake in silence with the man who had gone from Sokka’s least favorite person in the world, to someone he could call a friend. A close friend. 

Eventually though, Sokka knew they needed to get back to the shore so Zuko could actually change his clothes. He wasn’t at risk of hypothermia anymore, but he definitely couldn’t be comfortable. 

So Sokka pulled back and started the engine, and Zuko just huddled up in Sokka’s jacket as he steered them back to shore. Much to Sokka’s frustration, his jacket looked _really_ good on Zuko. Like, it basically fit him as well as it fit Sokka, and even looking like a drowned rat Zuko somehow still made it seem stylish. 

Damn Zuko and his frustratingly good looks. 

Sokka kept an arm around Zuko’s shoulders as they drove back to shore. Only because the wind would probably make him cold again. For sure. 

Soon, they were at the dock. Sokka secured the raft with a quick knot, making sure to tie it extra tight so no one would think to hijack it (again). Zuko climbed off first, with the same instability that he had had yesterday when he’d gotten in the raft for the first time. Clearly his temporary sailing experience was only a spur of the moment thing. 

Hauling himself off after Zuko, Sokka didn’t put his arm around Zuko again, but he hovered close to Zuko’s side as they walked back to the house. However, as they got closer to the cabin, Sokka had a feeling something was… off. 

His gaze flickered to the driveway, and he frowned. Sitting next to the family car and his dad’s beat up pickup truck was a sleek, black sedan. While it seemed like the kind of car Toph would ride around in, Sokka knew what Toph’s driver's car looked like, and it wasn’t that. 

As they approached the back door, Sokka noticed two figures standing outside. It was Katara, and she was speaking to a man whose back was turned to Sokka and Zuko. They both exchanged a suspicious look at this. 

Watching Katara talk to the man, Sokka could tell his sister was nervous. She was smiling at him as she spoke, but he could see her moving her hands rapidly with every word. She only gestured a lot when she was either nervous or angry, so Sokka’s jaw immediately clenched as they got closer. Katara locked eyes with Sokka over the man’s shoulders, and her eyes widened as she sucked in a breath. Sokka couldn’t tell if it was a sign of relief, or a sign of fear. 

Then, the man turned around, and Sokka realized that it had definitely been fear. 

Beside him, Zuko tensed up as Zhao’s steely gaze met theirs. Sokka gulped. What the hell was Zhao doing all the way in Alaska? They had an appointment set with him for Monday, if he needed to reschedule he could’ve just called them. 

No, his reason for being here had to be much more nefarious. 

“Zuko, Sokka, it’s good you’re here,” Zhao said in way of greeting. “I was just chatting with your sister, Sokka, about the two of you.” 

Behind Zhao’s back, Katara was mouthing ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ to Sokka. 

“Why are you here, Zhao?” Zuko asked, straightening up next to Sokka. “We have an appointment with you set already.” 

Zhao looked Zuko up and down, frowning as he noticed the way his clothes were clinging to his skin. 

“Did… you get wet?” Zhao asked, seeming genuinely confused. 

“Uh, we went out on the lake and there was a slight man overboard situation, but it was fine,” Sokka jumped in to explain. 

Zhao raised an eyebrow at this, and it looked like he considered questioning it. But after a moment of pondering, he decided it wasn’t worth it with a slight shake of his head. 

“Okay, not going to ask how that happened,” Zhao muttered. “Anyway, I’m here to offer you a deal.” 

Zuko and Sokka glanced at each other, both wearing identical expressions of confusion. 

“A deal for what?” Zuko asked. 

“To let yourselves out of this mess you’ve gotten into,” Zhao explained, folding his arms over his chest. “I received a tip from a very reliable source that the two of you are in fact committing immigration fraud and are not actually a couple. While usually trying to file with the intent of fraud would already qualify Sokka for jail time, I’m going to give you another chance.” 

He looked expectantly between the two men before continuing. 

“If you both admit right now what you’re doing is fraudulent, you won’t be penalized. Zuko, you will be deported from the United States, and Sokka will be able to resume life as normal. No harm, no foul.” 

Sokka noticed Zuko’s expression sour. 

“Who did you receive a tip from?” 

A smile quirked at the corner of Zhao’s lip. “Azula did. She called me last night and told me she was suspicious that you two were committing immigration fraud.” 

Zuko cursed under his breath, while Sokka’s eyes widened. How had Zuko’s crazy sister figured them out? Hell, how had she even known to call Zhao? Surprisingly, Zuko didn’t seem surprised by this, just angry. Like this wasn’t something unusual for his sister to do. 

They were really going to need to sit down and talk about Zuko’s home life sometime. 

“So? What’s it going to be?” Zhao said, eyes flitting over to Sokka. “This is your last chance, Sokka. I’d recommend taking this deal right now. It’s the much easier option.” 

...shit. Sokka had already been determined to stick by Zuko’s side, but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew this was an out no one else would ever get. Clearly, Zhao knew they were bullshitting this. And Sokka just knew this was the type of guy who was going to go after them relentlessly to prove that he was right. Not even mentioning the personal grudge he seemed to hold against Zuko. 

Looking over Zhao’s shoulder, Sokka locked eyes with Katara. Her eyebrows were pinched with worry. He knew when his sister was conflicted about something—boys, the morality of blowing up a dam with fireworks, what college to attend—he knew when she was struggling to find the better option. And that was what she was doing here. She looked like she wanted to desperately plead with Sokka to give it up and tell the truth. But she also knew why he had gone with this in the first place, and clearly didn’t want to overlook that. 

Beside him, Zuko was rigid. His jaw was clenched, face painfully neutral as he glared at Zhao. He wasn’t looking at Sokka. He wasn’t silently begging him to keep up the ruse. The warmth Sokka was so used to seeing on Zuko—in his eyes, his smile, his voice—it was gone. He was like a pillar of ice. 

In fact, Zuko almost seemed… resigned. Like he already knew which option Sokka was going to choose. 

Sokka thought back to that day Zuko had asked him to marry him. The fear, the begging. And then he thought of how the past two days had gone on. The laughter, the teasing, how easy everything had been. He thought about Zuko’s words of advice from the night before. How it told Sokka both so much and so little about the mystery that was Zuko. But how obvious it was that Zuko _cared_. 

Taking a deep breath, Sokka leveled Zhao’s gaze with his own. He knew his answer. 

“You know,” Sokka began, stepping towards Zhao, “it would be a lot easier to do what you said. I don’t disagree with you there.” In the corner of his eye, he saw Zuko flinch as Zhao began to smile. 

“But… you can go shove your deal up your ass,” he said, smirking at the immigration agent. Behind Zhao, a wide grin spread across Katara’s face. 

“I get what you’re trying to do here,” Sokka went on. “You’re still bitter over the fact that Zuko’s dad fired you and you got stuck with a shit job like this. So now you’re taking the opportunity to harass his son as your own form of petty revenge. But here’s the deal.” Stepping forward again, Sokka was now face to face with Zhao. 

“Nine months ago, I asked Zuko out on a date, and he accepted. One month ago, Zuko asked me to marry him, and I was shocked by the fact that someone as intelligent, determined, and all around amazing as he is wanted to marry _me_ of all people. But he did, and we’re getting married tomorrow in front of all my friends and family. It’s going to be a kickass ceremony with a lot of fresh crab for the reception dinner, and it’s gonna be the best goddamn day of our lives. So while it would be easier to not have to go through your bullshit revenge fantasy and just say we’re doing this for immigration fraud, I can’t do that because it’s not true.” 

Zhao was glaring daggers through Sokka right now, and Sokka kept his face neutral as he stepped back by Zuko’s side. He grabbed Zuko’s hand in his, and Zuko didn’t resist. 

“Now, are you going to get off my family’s property, or am I going to have to escort you to your car?” Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow at Zhao. 

If a person could spontaneously combust, Sokka was pretty sure Zhao would’ve right then and there. To say he looked furious was an understatement, and Sokka was struggling not to laugh. 

After a moment of silence, Zhao whipped around on his heel and stalked back towards the front of the house. 

“You’re making a mistake!” Zhao called out, not looking back at them. Sokka flipped him off in response. 

Soon, there was the sound of a car engine starting. And Sokka, Katara, and Zuko watched as the black sedan pulled out of the driveway, and sped towards the highway before disappearing out of sight. 

As soon as Zhao was gone, Sokka sagged in relief, leaning against Zuko’s shoulder for support. 

“Holy shit, my heart was pounding so fast at that,” Sokka said, burying his face in the jacket of his that Zuko was still wearing. “Did I do good? Did I make that sound believable?” 

“Uh, holy shit, yeah Sokka!” Katara exclaimed, patting her brother on the shoulder. “That was so great, you were so intense! Zhao looked so angry, it almost seemed like his head was going to explode or something!” Sokka laughed at that and so did Katara, but beside him, Zuko was silent. 

Frowning, Sokka straightened up off of Zuko’s shoulder, and saw Zuko was avoiding meeting his eyes. 

“Hey, dude, what’s wrong? He totally fell for it you know. You don’t have to be worried about him.” 

There was a beat of silence. 

“...why would you do that?” Zuko asked after a moment, his voice low. “You had the opportunity to get out of this mess I put you in. You would’ve gotten off scot-free. Why didn’t you tell him the truth?” 

For a moment, Sokka wasn’t sure how to respond. He had no idea why Zuko would even ask something like that. He was expecting Zuko to be happy that they had gotten Zhao off the trail. But instead, it was as if he was mad at Sokka for not betraying him to the agent. 

“Um, Katara, can you give us some privacy?” Sokka asked after a moment, glancing behind his shoulder at his sister. 

Katara nodded and hurried back towards the house. The back door clicked shut, and Sokka and Zuko were alone once more. 

“Zuko,” Sokka said quietly. “Look at me.” 

Reluctantly, Zuko lifted his head to meet Sokka’s gaze. 

“How long have you known me?” Sokka asked. 

“Three years.” 

“And after knowing me for three years, would you say I’m the type of person who goes back on my decisions?” 

Slowly, Zuko shook his head no. 

“Exactly,” Sokka breathed, bringing a hand up to squeeze Zuko’s shoulders. “I’m not going to sell you out to Zhao just because he came here repeating the same threats he said last time. I made my decision a few days ago when you asked me to marry you. We’re in this together, okay?” 

“But… I don’t… you shouldn’t be doing this for someone like me,” Zuko said. “I’ve been nothing but an asshole to you for the past three years. Those things you said to Zhao about me aren’t true. You don’t deserve to get thrown in prison because of me.” 

Sokka had no idea what to say to that. Zuko was being completely genuine in saying that, Sokka could tell. But he had never expected Zuko to say something like that. He was not only backtracking on their entire deal, but he was saying that he didn’t even deserve to be helped. It was a complete contrast from the Zuko who had begged Sokka to do this for him a few days prior. 

“Zuko, what the hell are you talking about?” Sokka finally managed to ask after a moment. “You… you’re my _friend_. I’m doing this for you because I don’t want you to get thrown out of the country. Why are you saying you don’t deserve it?” 

Zuko gulped, trying to hide his face from Sokka. 

“I don’t know, I guess I just…” he trailed off, and Sokka wasn’t sure if he was going to continue speaking. He seemed conflicted, and after a moment, he finally looked up to meet Sokka’s eyes. “I’m sorry. Forget I said anything. Thank you for doing that with Zhao.” 

While Sokka wanted to push the question, he could tell Zuko didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was still in wet clothes, and a breeze was picking up. 

“Of course, dude. Here, we need to get you in the house before you freeze to death,” Sokka said, grabbing Zuko’s arm and guiding him towards the house. Beside him, Zuko leaned into his hand, and Sokka flashed a smile at him. 

Logically, Sokka had known he’d gone with the wrong choice. Anyone would’ve taken that deal Zhao had offered. It was the perfect get out of jail free card. 

But somehow, Sokka couldn’t find it in himself to regret it.

🜲 🜲

Once back in the house, Zuko got to take a hot shower (without any nude run-ins this time). He hadn’t realized how cold he still was while standing outside with Zhao, Sokka, and Katara, but he was shivering by the time he’d gotten under the hot stream of water. It was summer, so it wasn’t freezing in Alaska thankfully. But warm for Alaska was typically in the 60s, and the water was definitely colder than that.

If this had happened in the winter… Zuko probably wouldn’t have all his fingers and toes right now. So at least he could be grateful for that. 

As hot water streamed over his head, Zuko found himself thinking back to that conversation with Zhao. He had been certain that Sokka was going to take the deal. Because why wouldn’t he? The first time they had gone into that immigration office, they had both been running on adrenaline and weren’t in their proper states of mind. After that, Sokka had just had to live with his mistake, because they’d already lied to the immigration officer. 

But then he’d gotten another chance. To ditch this whole mess. To keep his family from getting hurt. 

Yet, he stuck by Zuko. 

Zuko heard Sokka’s words in his head again, playing on repeat since that confrontation had occurred. There was one part he was particularly stuck on, where Sokka had called him determined, intelligent, and _amazing_. He knew Sokka had just been saying that to sell the point to Zhao, because Zuko knew he wasn’t really any of those things. Determined? In a way. Intelligent? He got decent grades in school and did fairly well for himself in work, but wasn’t exemplary. But amazing? He wasn’t amazing. He was a workaholic with a temper and daddy issues. Not exactly the type of guy someone would describe as amazing. 

Still… it was nice to hear Sokka say those things about him. 

Eventually, the water began to run cold and Zuko knew his shower time was up. He hopped out and changed into dry clothes, and after struggling to comb through his knotted hair, he eventually smoothed it out enough to look presentable and made his way back downstairs. 

As he walked down the stairs, Zuko could hear a lot of voices coming from the living room. When Sokka had led him back into the house after the Zhao incident, the only person who seemed to be home besides them was Katara. But now Zuko could hear Aang and Toph, and Toph was shouting about something involving… a bar? 

Making his way towards the couch, Zuko spotted four people (plus one dog) all lounging around the furniture. Katara and Aang were sitting next to each other on the couch, Aang’s fingertips just barely brushing Katara’s. Toph was laying across both of their laps, while Badgermole was squeezed in at the end on top of her feet. Meanwhile, Sokka was sitting in a chair next to the couch, looking much more comfortable than the others. 

As soon as Zuko walked in, everyone looked up at him. 

“Hey Zuko!” Aang chirped, waving at him with the hand that wasn’t pinned under Toph’s legs. 

“Oh hey, glad to know you didn’t die in the lake, Sparky!” Toph said in way of greeting, grinning at him. 

“Hey guys,” Zuko said quietly, settling down on the chair across from Sokka. 

“How was your shower, babe? Can you feel all your limbs again?” Sokka asked, wiggling his fingers for emphasis as he slid down in his chair. 

_Babe._ Zuko’s mind glitched on this one word. Sure, he and Sokka had been acting like a couple the past few days, but he had never called Zuko a pet name before. For a half a second, Zuko stared at Sokka, blinking in shock before shaking himself out to answer the question. 

“Uh, it was good. All my fingers and toes seem right where I left them,” he said in an attempt at a joke. 

“Perfect,” Katara jumped in suddenly. “Then that means you’ll be able to go along with our plan for tonight.” Katara had a mischievous look on her face that Zuko hadn’t seen her make before. There was a knowing glint in her eyes, and it was almost as if he could see the gears spinning in her head. She was planning something. 

“Plan for tonight?” Zuko questioned. 

“Well, you know how you guys are getting ‘married’ tomorrow?” Aang asked, doing air quotes around the word ‘married’. Zuko nodded. “There’s not really time for you guys to have bachelor parties or anything, but Katara suggested that the six of us all go out to a bar tonight to have some drinks and celebrate!” 

Zuko glanced to Sokka, who had a grin stretched across his face. It was obvious he was into this idea. Zuko tried to remember the last time he’d gone out to a bar with _friends_. He was pretty sure it was the last time he’d gone to Japan, right after graduating college and right before he flew to New York to start working for Uncle. Ty Lee had insisted that they had to have a going away celebration for him, so despite his resistance, she had forced him to go out with her, Mai, and Azula. 

Although it was fuzzy, he was pretty sure at some point during the night he had stood up against a dartboard while Mai threw darts around his face. Not by choice—Azula had been holding him against the wall. Also Ty Lee might’ve performed a full acrobat routine on top of the bar? Whether she did or not, somehow she got them another round of free shots. 

In essence, it had been a long time since he’d gone out to a bar with friends. But honestly? It didn’t sound too bad. 

“Oh, uh, sure,” Zuko agreed, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m down. But you said six of us?” 

“Oh yeah, Suki’s gonna come too,” Sokka explained. 

Hm. Suki. Zuko didn’t dislike the girl, in fact she seemed genuinely nice and easy to talk to. But he would be lying if he said she didn’t intimidate him. Not just because she was Sokka’s ex-girlfriend, and was way more likely to spot the fact that their relationship was fake than others would, but also because she seemed exactly how Sokka described her. Smart, badass, and really _really_ cool. She was essentially perfect, at least at a first impression. And it was difficult not to feel like he was trying to live up to her standard every time he was around her. 

(Which was a ridiculous way to feel since he and Sokka weren’t even dating for real. But they were fake dating so he still felt like he was being compared to her every time she was around.) 

“Cool,” Zuko shrugged, not letting his conflicted feelings about the girl show. “Just let me know when we’re gonna leave.” 

Toph let out an eardrum-shattering cheer at this, making everyone in the living room wince. 

They ended up hanging out in the house for a few more hours, waiting for a more appropriate drinking time to roll around. Suki showed up not long after Zuko had agreed to go, and just like the first time he had met her, she was extremely friendly and easy to approach. She showed no signs of jealousy or bitterness towards Zuko, which he figured made sense since she and Sokka hadn’t dated since high school, but still was a relief to him. 

Katara made everyone dinner. Kanna and Hakoda were out handling some family business matters, so it was just their group at the dining table. Aang and Toph both talked about college, Suki talked about how the lessons she taught in tessenjutsu and judo were going, and Katara bemoaned the anxiety over having to wait for her medical school applications to get back to her. Zuko and Sokka somehow ended up talking about work, bouncing off of each other seamlessly as they spoke about their latest project. 

Overall, it was a fun afternoon. Toph kicked him under the table at least four times for seemingly no reason. Suki cracked jokes about some of Sokka’s dumb habits that made Zuko laugh quite a bit (leaving pens out without the caps on, never being able to stick to one project for a long period of time before getting a new idea and switching to that, the fact that he was a shopaholic). Aang and Katara teased Sokka about the first time he had gotten high when they were teenagers and apparently had started rambling about a friendly mushroom. 

The conversation flowed so easily, that Zuko didn’t even realize how much time had passed until everyone started to get their things to head out. Because the sun wasn’t a reliable source at all for the passing of time, Zuko checked his phone and nearly choked when he saw it was already 7 pm. Definitely time to head to the bar then. 

They all packed into the back of Toph’s chauffeured car. It was a car that definitely was not meant for 6 passengers, but they made it work with Suki sitting on Sokka’s lap, Katara sitting on Aang’s lap, and Zuko squeezed into the middle seat while Toph sat up front with Badgermole. 

The bar wasn’t a large building. It seemed to just be a rather chill dive bar, at least from the outside of it. A few people were filtering inside, but there wasn’t a line or anything, so it wasn’t anything like a nightclub. 

Toph told her driver that she’d text him when they were ready to be picked up. After he drove off, Sokka slung an arm over Zuko’s shoulders and led him inside as the rest followed. 

The inside of the bar wasn’t anything special. It had wood floors and dark walls, with a few old pictures of fishermen hanging here and there. There was a stage set up with what looked like an ancient karaoke machine, and there were a few scattered tables along with two pool tables. 

Katara picked out a table close to the karaoke stage while Suki went to get shots. Zuko expected Sokka to go with her, but he didn’t. Instead, he stuck by Zuko, dropping his arm but still sitting down next to him at the table. 

“Alright guys,” Suki announced as she made her way back to the table, a tray resting on her hand, “I have gotten us the nectar of the drunk gods.” She set the tray down, and Zuko saw six shot glasses each filled with a foggy white liquid. 

“Vodka?” Aang questioned, eyeing the drinks. “But there’s no chaser…” 

“Oh Aang, you really think I’d do that to your baby taste buds?” Suki asked, patting his head and making him pout. “No, these are kamikaze shots. Yes, there’s vodka in here, but there’s some other stuff that’ll make it easier for them to go down. Just trust me.” 

Sighing, Aang grabbed one of the shot glasses. Everyone else reached forward to take one as well. 

“Can I make a toast?” Aang asked. 

“Oh, sure Aang!” Sokka said. 

“I just wanted to say that we may not have known Zuko long, but I’m already super excited to have him be a part of this family. He’s caring, funny, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to marry my brother,” Aang said, beaming at Zuko and Sokka.

Zuko ducked his eyes to the ground, a pang of guilt shooting through his chest at Aang’s kind words. Sokka’s family was really out to get him by unintentionally guilt tripping him about this sham marriage, weren’t they? 

“Cheers!” The group called out. Everyone tipped their heads back to take the shot, Zuko following suit despite having lost his excitement already. Suki was right. While the taste of vodka was obvious in the shot, there were fruity flavors at play as well that helped dull the rubbing alcohol taste of the liquor. It still burned the back of Zuko’s throat as it went down, but it was a vast improvement over taking the method of taking straight shots of cheap vodka back in college. 

Setting the glasses down, everyone settled back into their seats. One shot wasn’t going to do much for Zuko, but he had a feeling he was going to have quite a few more before the end of the night. 

“So Sokka, Zuko,” Suki began, resting her chin in her hands. “I’m curious, what was your guys’ first date like?” 

Sokka and Zuko exchanged wide-eyed glances. They had a general timeline down for their relationship, but they hadn’t discussed specific things like their first date and the like. Next to him, a smirk spread across Toph’s lips as she leaned back in her chair. 

“Yeah guys, tell us. What was your first date like?” She asked, the smugness clear as day in her voice. 

Zuko side-eyed the girl before remembering she couldn’t see his dirty look. Then, he looked back to Sokka, who seemed just as clueless about what to do as he was. They had a silent conversation of facial expressions, debating which of them got the honor of testing their bullshit skills. 

After a moment, Zuko decided to bite the bullet. He owed Sokka for today—well he owed Sokka for a lot, but that wasn’t the point—but he also saw an opportunity here. One that he was frankly shocked Sokka had missed. He could say whatever he wanted about their supposed ‘first date’, and Sokka couldn’t contradict him. 

This was going to be fun. 

“Well, Sokka had been the one to ask me out, so he planned the date,” Zuko began, quirking his lips in a side grin. “You see, we’d already been flirting at the office for a few months at this point, so the date was kind of just putting a name to our banter. But anyway, he decided that for our first date, we were going to have a picnic in the park.” 

Next to him, Sokka’s eyes began to widen, as if he only just realized the power he had handed over to Zuko. 

“When we met up, he had this whole setup laid out at the park. Picnic blanket, basket, the whole thing. But you know how most picnic dates have, like, sandwiches and wine?” Everyone at the table nodded. “Well instead Sokka had gotten us Chinese takeout and some Smirnoff Ices.” 

“Smirnoff Ice! Seriously?!” Suki gasped, smacking Sokka on the arm. “I’m disappointed in you.” 

Sokka yelped at the hit. “Look I was working with what I had!” He protested. 

“But come _on_! A $12 bottle of wine would’ve been better!” Suki continued like a sister scolding Sokka. Sighing, Sokka shot Zuko a dirty look, and Zuko just laughed before continuing. 

“I didn’t mind it. He knew my Chinese takeout order by heart, so that was touching to say the least,” Zuko said, knowing that Sokka did in fact know his takeout order because of all the times they’d ordered it when working late at the office. “So we ate, talked, and fought off some squirrels trying to steal our chow mein. You know, the usual picnic stuff.” 

Beside him, Sokka was now giving him a suspicious look. Like he could tell the ball still had yet to drop. Years of working with Zuko had clearly given Sokka an edge over reading Zuko, because he was right. The ball had not yet dropped on this convoluted date story Zuko had come up with. 

“We finish eating, and Sokka says he brought something for us to do. I’m looking around the park at all the couples flying kites and I assume it’s a kite, because what else do you do at a park if you’re not just sitting on the grass? But no, Sokka instead pulls out a _boomerang_.” 

Here’s the thing. Zuko knew that Sokka knew how to use a boomerang. It was one of the random facts about himself that he was most proud of. When talking about his accomplishments, it was most often that he had double majored in business and engineering in college, he had won his hometown’s pie eating competition three years in a row, and that he was a master at using a boomerang. Had Zuko ever actually seen him use a boomerang? No. But he could imagine what it might be like all the same. 

“I don’t know why the hell he’s got a boomerang, but he says he wants to show off what he can do because apparently he’s really good. I’m like, ‘yeah why not’ so I sit and watch as he stands up and prepares to throw it. After stretching for, like, five minutes he takes aim and tells me it’s going to fly around in a circle and come right back into his hand.” Zuko’s smirk grew wider, and he leaned back in his seat. “He throws it and it does a full circle around just like he said. But instead of catching it, it smacks Sokka right in the back of his head.” 

“Oh no!” Aang cried out. 

“That’s not all,” Zuko said, not even trying to hide his shit-eating grin from Sokka at this point. “ _It knocked him out cold._ ” 

“What?!” Suki gasped. 

“Okay I think you’re exaggerating a bit, a boomerang didn’t knock me unconscious-” Sokka tried to interrupt. 

“It did though!” Zuko insisted, not letting this go. “I ended up driving you to the hospital, don’t you remember?” The last part of his question was a challenge to Sokka. Him silently telling him, _you can’t disagree with this because if you do it will look suspicious._

Next to him, Zuko could tell full well that Sokka wanted to punch him. 

“God! You knocked yourself out with a boomerang, Snoozles?!” Toph snorted, laughing like she didn’t fully know the story was bullshit. “I’m not even surprised. That’s such a you thing to do.” 

“Hey!” Sokka protested. “He’s making it sound way more dramatic than it was! I just got the angle off and disoriented myself for a bit.” 

“Uh huh, keep telling yourself that,” Zuko teased, earning himself a punch in the arm from Sokka. 

Beside Sokka, Suki was giggling into her hand. “That must’ve been a very memorable first date for you, Zuko.” 

Zuko grinned. “It definitely was. I thought it was kind of endearing though, especially when he kept calling me a cute angel all the way to the hospital.” 

Sokka flushed bright red, and Zuko laughed even harder than he already was. He wasn’t exactly sure where the story had come from, he just had thought of ‘picnic’ followed by remembering Sokka’s boomerang bragging point, and everything else had just fallen into place. 

“Awwww, that’s so sweet,” Suki cooed, poking Sokka’s cheek. 

“Hey! I was delirious,” Sokka argued. 

“Sureeeee Sokka,” Aang jumped in, grinning cheesily at Sokka and Zuko. 

Rolling his eyes, Sokka looked around the bar, obviously trying to find a way out of this. He glanced at the bar, and his eyes widened. “Who wants more shots?” He asked. Toph raised her hand eagerly, and Sokka bolted upright before rushing over to the bar, clearly eager to escape the torment Zuko had inflicted upon him. 

Katara brought up something about all the times Sokka had hit himself with his boomerang when he was a kid, the smile on her face suggesting that she had enjoyed Zuko’s fake story quite a bit. Resting his elbows on the table, Zuko thought of the strange first date story he had concocted on a whim. It wasn’t true, but he could see it happening. He could imagine laughing with Sokka as they chucked chopsticks at squirrels, he could taste the disappointing Smirnoff Ice and hear himself complaining to Sokka about his choice in drink, he could picture what it would be like to watch Sokka throw a boomerang only for it to hit him square in the back of the head and make him drop like a sack of rocks. 

It wasn’t true, but Zuko liked to imagine that it was. That his fiance had really set up an entire picnic for the two of them as a first date, and then knocked himself unconscious when trying to impress Zuko. It was the kind of story you told for years on end. The one you told at dinner parties and anniversary celebrations. 

For a moment, Zuko regretted coming up with the story. Because when he reminded himself that it wasn’t real—it hurt more than he expected it to. 

Sokka came back with the second round of shots, and this was what it took for Zuko to actually start feeling the effects of the liquor. The conversation steered somewhere else, and more humorous stories started being shared among the group. Soon, another round of shots was ordered, and at this point Aang was really starting to sway. Along with this, the idea of karaoke was presented, which everyone except Zuko jumped right on. 

The karaoke machine in the bar—sitting desolate in the corner—was set up by a reluctant seeming bartender. Sokka was up first of course, starting the night off strong with Super Bass of all things. Sokka really hadn’t expected Sokka to know all the lyrics to the rap, but he somehow did _and_ he managed to keep on beat. It was impressive really. 

He shouldn’t have been surprised when Aang, who was already pretty drunk at this point, decided his best song to start with was Dancing Queen. Yes, the one by ABBA. Usually no one chooses Dancing Queen unless they’re nearing the end of the night. While Aang definitely wasn’t a good singer, his enthusiasm made up for it, especially how he pointed at Katara every time he said ‘you are the dancing queen’. 

To Zuko’s surprise, Suki and Katara did a duet next. They settled on Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne of all things, and while that song wasn’t meant to be a duet, it was still thoroughly enjoyable to watch Suki and Katara scream _HEY HEY YOU YOU_ at each other on the stage. 

When it got to Toph’s turn, she declared that she wasn’t going to sing on behalf of saving both everyone’s eardrums and also that she wasn’t drunk enough yet. That left it at Zuko’s turn. Which he also skipped. Much to Sokka and Katara’s disappointment. 

The karaoke machine passed through a few more patrons in the bar as the night revved up. A whole friend group sang I Write Sins Not Tragedies together. An older man who looked like he had just gotten back from a three month long fishing gig sang Slow Dancing in the Dark of all things. A very drunk couple that couldn’t seem to untangle themselves from each other sang My Heart Will Go On (very poorly, Zuko might add). 

The night wore on. Zuko switched from shots to sipping at a beer pretty soon, not wanting to get wasted since he was literally supposed to get married tomorrow. Eventually, the air in the bar grew heavy as more patrons packed inside. The heat of so many bodies in the small space made the temperature of the room rise, and Zuko felt his shirt start to stick to him with sweat. That combined with his swirling thoughts and the heaviness in his limbs made him start to consider getting outside for a bit. 

Eventually, while Sokka was distracted singing a very dramatic rendition of Somebody that I Used to Know with Katara, Zuko decided it was time to get some fresh air. He slipped out of his seat while the others were focused on the performance, and made his way out to the balcony of the bar that overlooked the harbor. 

The cool outside air was a balm to the heat prickling off his skin. Usually Zuko didn’t mind heat, but there were only so many drunk bodies he could handle before needing to feel a breeze. It was much easier to breathe out there, with a light wind wicking the sweat off his arms and neck, and slanted rays of sunlight falling across his face. The sun had nearly set, which Zuko had now figured out meant that it was likely around 11 pm. He leaned against the railing of the balcony, taking a sip of his beer as he tried not to think about what was going to happen tomorrow. 

Zuko had been alone out on the balcony, until he heard a door open behind him. Footsteps approached, and Zuko saw bobbed hair from the corner of his eye as Suki rested her elbows on the railing next to him. 

“You alright out here?” She asked, pushing some sweaty strands of auburn hair off her forehead. 

“Yeah, it just got a little hot in there so I wanted a breather,” Zuko explained. 

“Oh believe me I know. This is nothing compared to Dance Nights. That place gets so packed it’s like being packed in like sardines,” Suki said, laughing a bit. “Since this is the only decent bar in town it tends to get pretty busy.” 

“I wouldn’t have guessed it by looking at it,” Zuko muttered. 

This made Suki snort. “I’m sure it’s pretty boring compared to New York bars. But it’s the best we got here.” 

“I like it though,” Zuko cut in. “It’s not trying too hard. I feel like that’s something a lot of New York bars don’t get. They try to lure you in with flashy decor or bougie drinks, and it really just misses the point of just wanting to go out and chill with your friends.” 

Suki considered this for a moment. “I never thought of it like that. But it makes sense,” she agreed, folding her hands together on the rail. 

Nodding, Zuko took another sip of his beer, and Suki noticed. 

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Suki asked suddenly. “It’s okay if you. I’d be too if I was in your shoes.” 

Blinking, Zuko glanced at her, before turning to look back at his drink. He was nervous. But not for the reasons she thought. 

“Yeah, I am a bit,” Zuko admitted, running his fingers over the condensation that had collected on his bottle. 

Suki smiled, though she wasn’t looking at Zuko. “I know you’re nervous now, but I’m sure when you’re walking down that aisle tomorrow and you see him, all your nerves will disappear.” Her smile softened, as did her voice. “Sokka’s a really great guy. You’re lucky you found him.” 

“Yeah, I’m really lucky,” Zuko murmured, running his thumb along the top of his beer bottle as he tried to ignore his pounding heart. 

It fell silent between them for a few moments. The wind ruffled both of their hair, Suki was looking out onto the water, while Zuko was staring down at his hands. Zuko hadn’t gotten any one on one time with Suki yet, and there was something he’d been meaning to ask her about. 

“Suki,” he started, “you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but, uh, can you tell me what happened between you and Sokka?” 

“Did Sokka not tell you?” Suki asked, an amused grin on her face. 

“No he did, I’m just curious to hear your take on things.” 

Suki nodded. “Well, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that Sokka was the best boyfriend I ever had. We really just… got each other, you know?” She laughed as a memory occurred to her. “Not at first though. When we first met he was kind of a sexist asshole who said girls couldn’t fight, so naturally I challenged him to a fight after school.” 

“Naturally,” Zuko agreed. 

“It was pretty funny. He was like, ‘I’m not gonna fight a girl’ and when I kept insisting he was like ‘I’ll just pin you to a wall I’m not gonna hurt you’. Then I had him on his back in about two seconds flat.” Zuko laughed at this mental image, and he could totally see it happening. “After that he gained a lot more sense. He asked me to teach him judo, and I ended up showing him some tessenjutsu as well. We became really good friends after that.” She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. 

“When we started dating, things continued to be really good between us. We dated through the second half of junior year all the way through senior year. Then when the time came for us to go off to college, I decided we needed to confront reality. We were going to different schools, and I knew he had dreams of going to New York after he graduated. I didn’t want to go to New York, and long distance isn’t something either of us were interested in. So I told him this and he agreed that we should end things.. We’ve just been best friends ever since.” 

“That’s pretty much exactly what he told me,” Zuko said, although he noticed how Sokka conveniently left out Suki challenging him to a fight and winning. 

“I figured. Things ended really well between us. He’s definitely the only ex I’m this close with,” Suki told him. She paused for a moment, seeming thoughtful, and Zuko was quiet as he waited to see if she would speak again. 

“Our relationship was definitely one of my best, but I wouldn’t say it was perfect,” she said after a minute, her smile falling. “It just felt like… he was holding himself back, while we were dating. Like I could just sense this feeling of guilt coming from him whenever we were together. I think that’s also part of why we both were so agreeable to ending things.” She sighed. “I never blamed him for that. Of course it was understandable, after everything that had happened with Yue. It made sense that he would feel guilty. But I think another part of the reason why I suggested we end things was because I knew he needed more time to deal with that stuff.” 

Yue. Zuko had never heard that name before, yet Suki said it casually, as if she expected Zuko to know exactly what she was referring to. 

“Yue?” Zuko questioned, frowning at Suki. “Who’s that?” 

Suki turned her face towards Zuko, her eyes widening as her mouth dropped open. 

“Oh shit,” Suki said softly. “I thought that Sokka would’ve told you about her.” 

Zuko shook his head. “No, he didn’t tell me.” A part of him was offended by this. They were supposed to know everything about each other in order to get past Zhao’s interrogation. Yet Suki said the name Yue with such weight, it was obvious Zuko should definitely know who she was. “Can you tell me what happened with her?” 

Suki stared at Zuko for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Zuko. That’s not my story to tell. You should ask Sokka about that.” 

“Oh, okay,” Zuko said, staring at his shoes now. He had no idea what could’ve happened with this Yue girl that would be something so personal, only Sokka himself should tell Zuko about it. 

“Don’t worry about the guilt thing I said earlier though,” Suki cut in again, picking the conversation up where it had been. “I can tell he’s gotten past that now.” 

“How?” 

A small smile quirked at Suki’s lips. “I see the way he looks at you, the way he talks to you, the way he _laughs_ with you. With me, there was always a slight hesitation. Barely noticeable, but I could always tell he wasn’t able to give himself fully to me and our relationship. But with you it’s different. I don’t see that hesitation anymore.” Her smile grew a bit wider. “It makes me really happy to see him like that.”

A lump had formed in Zuko’s throat. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, a part of him wanted to believe Suki. That Sokka actually looked at him like that. He knew this weekend had changed things between them, and while it was difficult for Zuko to believe a single weekend could change three years of resentment… he wanted to ignore the logic in his head. 

“Thanks,” Zuko said quietly, a barely there smile gracing his face. 

Suki rested a hand on his back, and Zuko felt the tension release from his shoulders. It was all wishful thinking. He knew that. But for tonight he could pretend. 

“Wanna go back inside?” Suki asked. 

“Yeah, let’s do it.” With a swift drink, Zuko finished off his beer and followed the short-haired girl back into the bar. 

When they got back to the table, Sokka practically threw himself onto Zuko, clinging to his arm and whining about how Zuko had abandoned him in his time of need. When Zuko tried to explain that he was just outside, Sokka moaned that they had needed him and Suki desperately but they had no clue where they’d gone. 

Turns out, what the others needed the two of them for was because of the next karaoke performance they had in mind. This time, Toph and Zuko didn’t get to say no because everyone had to join in. 

Of course Zuko knew all the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody because who didn’t? Still, he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of singing in front of the entire bar. However, the beer he had just finished outside was settling in his bones and easing his anxiety, and Sokka still had a hand wrapped around Zuko’s arm. As Sokka started off the song, he leaned into Zuko’s side, and Zuko reciprocated as the two swayed back and forth in time with the music. Soon he joined in, then Katara entered the song, followed by Aang, Suki, and finally, Toph. 

While the rest of the bar patrons had largely ignored the other karaoke performances the members of their group had put on, this time, everyone had seemed to tune into the iconic Queen song. As they sang, _I see a little silhouetto of a man_ the entire bar had ended up shouting _SCARAMOUCHE! SCARAMOUCHE!_. It was kind of awesome really. Zuko laughed at seeing all the bar patrons yell in tune with the song, a strange sense of warmth filling his chest. In fact, every part of him was warm right now. The places where drunk Sokka was practically hanging off of him, the place on his waist where Katara was giving him a side hug, not to mention his face was hot from all the alcohol. 

It was so much fun. As the song reached its end, the others in the group dropped off, leaving Sokka to be the one to deliver the ending. Which wasn’t great because Sokka wasn’t a great singer, but no one in the bar seemed to be annoyed by his voice as he finished off the last note of _any way the wind blows…_

And then, Aang promptly passed out on the floor. 

About half an hour later, they’d gotten Aang some water to try and wake him up so he wouldn’t throw up in the car ride home. The rest of the group had ordered some fries to split while waiting for Aang to get settled, and the sobering effects of food were already hitting them. Even still though, Sokka was leaning heavily against Zuko, and Zuko didn’t mind it one bit. 

Once Aang was able to sit up for long enough that they determined he wasn’t going to puke all over the car, Toph called her driver up and the group made their way outside the bar to meet their ride. 

The drive home was peaceful. They had forgone the sitting positions of last time. This time, Katara, Suki, Zuko, and Sokka were all crammed into the back, with a half-conscious Aang stretched across all their laps. Toph meanwhile was sitting up front as comfy as could be, burying her face into Badgermole’s fur and humming Bohemian Rhapsody to herself. 

Zuko had gotten lucky with the window seat, since he had the broadest shoulders in the group. He leaned his head against the cool glass, swirling thoughts lazily going over everything that had happened in the past few hours. He could feel Sokka’s arm pressed against his own, and as he watched the street lights pass by like fallen stars, a head nestled itself into Zuko’s shoulder, and Zuko smiled. 

There was something oddly surreal about the ride home after a night out partying, made even more surreal by the sun that was still barely visible on the horizon. Zuko watched the quiet town pass by. The sidewalks were empty, the storefronts darkened, and everything was bathed in the harsh orange light of the streetlamps, and the faint yellow of the still present sun. The world felt hazy, but in a good way. It was that same warmth Zuko had during Bohemian Rhapsody. Spreading from his chest, to his arms, to the very tips of his toes. 

They dropped off Suki first, since she lived closer to town. She gave Zuko a comforting smile when he said his goodbye, and Zuko knew it was meant to be a reassurement for tomorrow. 

It wasn’t long until they were pulling through the tree-lined driveway towards the cabin. As a group, they picked Aang up and out of the car, and Zuko was surprised to find he was extremely light. He offered to carry him in, and Katara unlocked the door for him as he walked up the stairs towards Aang’s room. It was tricky, trying to carry Aang while not walking up the stairs too loudly so as not to wake Hakoda and Kanna, but somehow he managed to do it. Once Aang was settled in his bed, Katara promised she would take care of him, essentially dismissing Zuko and Sokka. 

The two went about their night time routine in silence, with only a tiny bit of stumbling. They were both mostly sober now, but the exhaustion was weighing heavy in their bones. Before they got in bed, Sokka forced Zuko to chug an entire bottle of water. Zuko insisted that he was 25 and knew how to take care of himself after a night out drinking, but Sokka glared at him until he drank the water. 

Properly hydrated and changed into pajamas, Sokka closed the blackout curtains and the two laid down in their usual positions. 

Despite how exhausted he was, Zuko didn’t want to sleep yet. He had gone over the events of the night several times in his head, and one thing still stuck out to him. 

Yue. 

Sokka might be too tired to talk about this, but they were getting married tomorrow, and Zuko wanted to know why Sokka hadn’t mentioned her to him. From what Suki said, it sounded like she was a really important part of Sokka’s life, at least for a time. 

“Sokka?” Zuko whispered into the darkness. 

“Yeah?” Sokka asked. To his relief, Sokka sounded just as awake as he was. 

“Uh, can I ask you something?” Zuko hated how small his voice got when he said that. 

Next to him, Zuko heard Sokka shift as he turned over towards Zuko. After a moment, Zuko did the same so that they were facing each other in the dark. 

“Shoot,” Sokka said. 

Sighing, Zuko tried to think of how to phrase this. He struggled to explain how it had come up between him and Suki, but after a moment, his buzzed brain gave up and he decided to just be blunt about it. 

“Who’s Yue?” 

For a few painstaking moments, there was silence from Sokka’s side. No gasp. No cursing. No dramatics. Just… silence. 

Then, Sokka let out a deep sigh. 

“I should’ve figured someone was going to mention her eventually,” he muttered. “Who brought her up and what did they tell you?” 

“Suki did,” Zuko explained. “She just mentioned her offhandedly, and when I asked who she was she said she was surprised you hadn’t told me about her. She didn’t tell me anything more than that though. Suki said I should ask you directly instead.” 

“That makes sense,” Sokka murmured, a strange sense of what Zuko would almost say was defeat in his voice. 

There was another minute of silence. Zuko waited, a clock ticking in his head as the seconds went by. As the moment dragged on past what was a socially acceptable pause, Zuko almost opened his mouth again to tell Sokka he didn’t have to say anything. But he _wanted_ to know. He wanted to know about the important people in Sokka’s life. The ones who had made him into the person he was today. So he didn’t give Sokka an out, and just waited. 

After a few more moments, his patience was rewarded. 

“You know how I said Suki had been the only serious relationship I’d ever had?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Well that was a lie,” Sokka said, no hint of guilt or shame in his voice. “I dated someone before Suki, and that was Yue.” An ex-girlfriend. Zuko had guessed that much about her. 

Sokka let out a soft breath. 

“I met Yue when I was 15. She was a transfer student to our school. Her parents were really overprotective, so they’d homeschooled her up until then. I was assigned to show her around, and the first time I saw her I pretty much forgot how to speak because she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.” Sokka laughed at the memory, although there was a sadness to it that Zuko couldn’t place. “For some reason, she liked my really awkward attempts at conversation with her, and we became friends. And as I got to know her I realized she was just as beautiful inside as she was outside. She was kind, compassionate, and extremely caring about others—I’d never met anyone like her before. 

“We ended up dating for about six months. This is gonna sound stupid, because we were only 15 at the time, but I fell in love with her. Hard. She was the most amazing person I’d ever met. And I was completely convinced I was going to marry her someday.”

“What happened with her?” Zuko whispered. 

“Things were going great but then... she got sick,” Sokka said quietly. “It was really sudden. One day, she just had a slight headache and cough, and two days later she was in a hospital bed, barely able to lift her hand. It took a while to get a solid answer on what was wrong with her, but it turned out she had some extremely rare genetic disease. There was barely any information on what it was, and there were no treatments for it. No cure.” 

Zuko had a feeling he knew where this was going, and the lump in his throat was back. 

“I stayed with her for three weeks after she was diagnosed. At first I kept going to school, because I wanted to bring her work back for her so she wouldn’t fall behind. But soon it became obvious that she wasn’t going to be coming back to school.” Sokka’s voice was tight, and Zuko wanted to reach a hand out to rest on his shoulder. But he didn’t want to interrupt Sokka, so he kept his hand to his side. 

“I stopped going to school entirely, instead spending every day I could by her side. Her parents were really understanding, which was a relief. We would hang out, talk, watch movies, play board games, anything we could do in the hospital room.” A sharp breath. “She kept growing weaker though. And eventually... she died.” 

Shit. Suki’s words about Sokka’s guilt getting in the way of their relationship suddenly made a lot more sense. 

“I... I’m so sorry,” Zuko said after a few moments. 

“It’s okay. It’s been a long time since it happened,” Sokka reassured, though Zuko could still hear the thick edge to his voice. “It just... it fucked me up for a real long time. She was the first girl I ever loved. She had been one of the best people I’d met. Just being around her made me want to be a better person, because she was just so dedicated to her family and her friends and helping the world around her. I know that after someone dies you always glorify them or whatever, but I’m not exaggerating at all. Yue was someone I looked up to so much, and I still look up to her, even now.” 

“She sounds like she was really amazing,” Zuko offered. 

Somehow, Zuko could hear the sad smile in Sokka’s voice. “Yeah, she really was.” 

At this, a fierce ache in Zuko’s chest made itself known. It was obvious how much this had hurt Sokka in the past, and Zuko could imagine it so clearly. Sokka, a teenager in love, throwing himself headfirst into his first relationship and giving himself wholly to Yue, only to lose her in such a short time. That had to be absolutely devastating. Even though Zuko hadn’t been romantically attached to Mai, she was still one of his closest friends. If he had lost her when he was a teenager, it would’ve destroyed him. 

“You know, the name Yue means moon,” Sokka said after a moment. “Yue always had this thing about the moon. She loved it. She had a pair of moon earrings she wore almost every day to school, she had a bunch of moon accessories, and her favorite thing to do when it was winter was sit outside in the moonlight, drinking hot chocolate and talking about our dreams.” Sokka laughed again, and this time it was less sad, and more nostalgic. “I asked her why she was so obsessed with the moon, and she said she didn’t know why. She just felt attached to it somehow. When she got sick, she would tell me that after she died, she was going to become part of the moon so she could always watch over the people she loved.” 

Suddenly, Zuko made a connection. 

“Your tattoo.” 

Sokka hummed in affirmation. “Yup. I got that done in her memory. That way I could always feel like I wasn’t going to forget her, even when the sun stayed in the sky for months at a time.” 

“Thank you for telling me this,” Zuko said after a moment. 

“You don’t need to thank me. The reason I didn’t mention it when you asked me about my past relationships is because it’s kind of awkward to explain how your first girlfriend died when you were a teenager.” He paused for a moment, before sighing. “Well, it was that and the fact that Yue was such an important part of my life. I didn’t really feel comfortable telling you about her when you asked me that.” 

Still laying on his side, Zuko scooted just slightly closer to Sokka. 

“But you told me now,” he whispered. 

To his surprise, Sokka shifted so he was closer too. 

“Yeah, I told you now,” he whispered in return, face so close to Zuko’s that he could feel Sokka’s breath puffing against his lips. 

Another moment of quiet fell between them. Zuko’s hand was so close to Sokka’s, he could feel the heat radiating off the man’s skin. Slowly, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart, Zuko let his fingers reached forward until they brushed against Sokka’s. 

Sokka surprised him again. Not by pulling away, but by grabbing Zuko’s hand in his own and lacing their fingers together. It was like an electric current ran through Zuko, and he was glad Sokka couldn’t see his blushing in the dark. 

“Since you asked me something personal,” Sokka began after a few beats of silence. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Of course.” 

“Okay...” Sokka paused for a moment, and Zuko guessed he was trying to figure out how to phrase whatever he wanted to ask. Zuko had a feeling he knew what Sokka was going to ask. It was an inevitable question. Just like how Sokka had known someone was going to bring up Yue eventually. Zuko knew Sokka was going to ask him this. 

“Why are you afraid of going back to Japan?” Sokka asked softly, squeezing Zuko’s fingers. 

Yup. Zuko knew it had been coming. A few days ago, he would’ve refused to answer. But it wasn’t a few days ago. 

Zuko found himself speaking without thinking. 

“You know I don’t really get along well with my family back in Japan,” Zuko started, ignoring the way his heart rate picked up and instead trying to focus on the feeling of Sokka’s hand wrapped around his own. 

“Yeah, I’ve figured that,” Sokka replied. 

Zuko tried to swallow his nerves down. “Yeah. I know I kind of implied to your dad and Kanna that it was because my dad didn’t like the fact that I’m gay, which isn’t wrong, he’s definitely not happy about that. But it’s also more than that.” Sokka stayed quiet as Zuko struggled to figure out how to explain this. 

“My father... isn’t a kind man. I’ve always been a disappointment to him. Whether because I wasn’t as naturally talented as my sister, or because I wasn’t as inherently ruthless as he was, there was always something I was doing that wasn’t up to his standard.” He took another shaky breath. “My mother did her best to try and protect me from his anger. But after she got sick and passed away, I was on my own against him.” 

Zuko squeezed Sokka’s hand again, and was once again glad Sokka couldn’t see his face right now. 

“I never told you how I got my scar, did I?” Zuko said after a moment. 

There was a heavy silence from Sokka as all the pieces fell into place. 

“It was my father,” Zuko continued when Sokka didn’t say anything, having to force the words out through a quickly closing throat. “Said it was to teach me respect. Because I’d spoken out against one of his colleagues when I was allowed to sit in during a business meeting.” 

“How old were you?” Sokka asked, voice barely above a whisper. 

“13.” 

Sokka squeezed Zuko’s hand again, but this time it was much _much_ harder. There was dead silence between them as Sokka processed this, and for a moment Zuko was worried he had fucked up. This was probably too dark for Sokka. Zuko didn’t blame him. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to digest. 

Then, after a moment, Sokka let out a shaky breath. 

“That’s so fucked up,” he whispered. “It makes sense now. Why you were so desperate to not go back.” 

Zuko let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah. You can say that again.” 

Suddenly, the hand holding Zuko’s hand disappeared. Then, his heart skipped a beat when he felt a feather-light hand move to rest on his cheek. 

“You never have to go back there again, Zuko,” Sokka told him. “Trust me, I’ll make sure of that.” 

Zuko shrugged, but didn’t try to move Sokka’s hand away from him. “I mean, I’m an adult now. He can’t hurt me like when I was a kid.” 

“Doesn’t mean you should ever have to see his face again.” Sokka began rubbing his thumb across Zuko’s cheek. “We’re gonna get married tomorrow, and we’ll shove our marriage visa in Zhao’s stupid ass face, and everything’s gonna be great. Okay?” 

It took Zuko an extra half a second to respond because his brain was short-circuiting due to the finger brushing across his cheek. The thought of marrying Sokka in front of his entire family still gave him pains of guilt in his chest, but he was ignoring them in favor of the feeling of Sokka’s arms wrapped around him. 

In that moment, with the feeling of Sokka’s breath puffing against his lips, the sensation of Sokka’s thumb tracing circles into Zuko’s cheek, and the racing of his own heart in time with Sokka’s own, Zuko almost kissed Sokka. The temptation to just lean forward and close the incredibly small distance between them was so strong, it took all of Zuko’s willpower to fight it. 

Instead, he leaned forward the tiniest bit, and felt his forehead lightly bump against Sokka’s. Sokka didn’t move away, only relaxed against him. Zuko knew it was probably just the alcohol, but his heart fluttered anyway. 

“Okay,” Zuko whispered in reply. 

Once again, even though it was dark, Zuko could tell Sokka was smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay note: nothing is wrong with Kanna she's pretty much fine physically I just know a lot of old people who are Like That and talk about dying all the time even though they're physically fine (re: my grandpa)
> 
> anyway that was a LOT in a single chapter! so yeah. they're getting 'married' tomorrow. zhao is a dick like usual. aang has the alcohol tolerance of a baby. don't bring smirnoff ices on your first date it's not classy. 
> 
> I've been waiting to write the Yue reveal for SO LONG so I hope you guys liked that conversation, along with the obligatory 'how did zuko get his scar' convo as well lol
> 
> anywho i'm really tired because it's almost 2 am so i'm gonna go conk out now. let me know what you thought in the comments! they mean so much to me :) 
> 
> hmu on tumblr to shout at me about atla! @thatsnotrelevant <3


	5. the beifong's know how to throw a good wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the wedding approaches, Zuko's guilt only grows stronger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS HERE WE ARE
> 
> so when I started this fic i legit had no idea it would end up being this long. hell, I didn't even think I'd finish it, let alone finish it in less than a _month_. this is probably the second longest fic i've ever completed? which is wild to think about
> 
> anyway seriously guys thank you all so much for how great you've been in the comments. all of you are so sweet and i almost never get this many comments on chapters, so thank you so so much i love all of you
> 
> i really, really hope you guys like this chapter :)

Zuko woke up with arms wrapped around his back, and his face shoved into a broad chest. 

There was no groggy haze. There was no wondering where he was, or why he was so warm. There wasn’t even a happy sigh and snuggling further into the person holding him before he realized where he was. 

As soon as Zuko was awake, he knew it was Sokka holding him like this, and he knew they were supposed to get married today. And with this waking knowledge, a wave of anxiety-induced nausea rolled over him. 

This was it. Today he was going to have to walk down the aisle, and lie to all of Sokka’s family. Kanna was going to walk with him, Hakoda was going to smile at him, Aang was going to be excitedly bouncing in the pews. 

And Sokka. Zuko was going to have to let false vows pass through his lips, and ignore the way his heart fluttered when he looked into Sokka’s eyes. He was going to have to kiss Sokka. Double subterfuge. A fake kiss for the guests, but also a fake kiss for Sokka—but in a different way. To the guests, he would be kissing the man he loved and intended to spend the rest of his life with. To Sokka, he was kissing a friend who was doing him a favor, and nothing more. 

The kiss would be neither of those things. Not for Zuko. Because while he wasn’t in love with Sokka, he knew he could be. He was standing on a precipice. Every day of this trip had brought him closer and closer to the edge. And now he was standing with his toes hanging over air, and one wrong step was going to send him falling fast and _hard_ for Sokka. 

He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet and Zuko’s heart was already aching fiercely in his chest. 

Sokka’s heartbeat thudded steadily against Zuko’s ear. It was a soothing, solid rhythm. One that told him that Sokka was here with him. One that let him count his breaths against the solid _thump thump thump_. 

Along with having his face shoved into Sokka’s chest, Zuko soon realized his arm was thrown over Sokka’s waist, and Sokka’s face was buried into Zuko’s hair. Just like yesterday morning, their legs were entangled together. 

Logically, Zuko knew he should move. But he thought back to the night before. To the feeling of Sokka’s hand resting against his cheek, their fingers interlaced, and whispering to each other about the important tragedies in their lives. And this made Zuko not want to move. 

Sokka’s arm shifted on his back, and Zuko listened as Sokka began to wake up. His heart rate picked up ever so slightly, his legs began to stretch without jostling Zuko’s, and Zuko kept his eyes shut as Sokka’s own fluttered open. 

Zuko’s heart was pounding. He didn’t want Sokka to know he was awake yet. Because once he’s awake, he’s going to have to let go. He’s going to have to face what the day has in store for him. 

So selfishly, he held onto Sokka tighter, pretending to still be asleep. He wanted one more minute like this. Just one. 

Above his head, he heard Sokka yawn, and that’s how he knew that Sokka was fully awake. He waited for the warm arms around his back to disappear, for Sokka to pull away now that he had noticed that they were cuddling again. 

But he didn’t. Instead, Sokka began to trace small circles into Zuko’s back, causing his heart to skip a beat. Sokka buried his face into Zuko’s hair and whispered something that Zuko couldn’t make out. Then, after a few more beats of silence, a hand moved to his shoulder and began to gently shake him. 

“Wake up, Zuko,” Sokka said softly. 

Figuring he didn’t have much of a choice now, Zuko pulled his head back from Sokka’s chest, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as his vision came into focus. When he met Sokka’s eyes, the fluttering in his stomach only got even worse. Sokka was giving him the softest look that Zuko had ever seen on his face before. His eyes were warm even though he wasn’t smiling, and Zuko’s brain short-circuited when he realized that warmth was meant for him. 

“What time is it?” Zuko mumbled, trying to act like he hadn’t just lost his breath because of Sokka. 

“Time for us to get up,” Sokka continued, a small smile forming on his face. “We don’t wanna be late for our own wedding.” 

The pit growing even wider in his stomach, Zuko nodded and looked away from Sokka’s face. Sokka was still rubbing circles into the small of Zuko’s back, and he knew that if he didn’t pull away now, he’d never get out of bed. 

Sokka let him go without struggle, although Zuko immediately missed the contact as he untangled himself from both Sokka and the bedsheets. He pushed his legs off so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and took a few deep breaths as he tangled his fingers in his hair. 

Behind him, the bed dipped as Sokka sat up as well, and a pair of hands came to rest on his shoulders. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, Zuko,” Sokka reassured him. “The wedding is all set up. There’s nothing for us to worry about now. All we have to do is show up.” 

Zuko clenched his teeth, because Sokka didn’t realize that’s exactly what he was worried about. 

“Okay,” Zuko murmured, reaching up to rest a hand on top of the one Sokka had on his shoulder. “Thank you.” 

After that, things began to move quickly. Too quickly for Zuko’s liking. They both took turns showering in Sokka’s bathroom, then went downstairs to eat the small breakfast Katara had prepared. Kanna and Hakoda were off getting the finishing touches set up with Toph’s mother and Toph herself, so it was just Katara and Aang joining Zuko and Sokka at breakfast. The entire time, Aang was rambling about how excited he was. He’d seen the setup already, and kept repeating how gorgeous everything looked and how Mrs. Beifong had ‘really outdone herself’. 

The wedding was to be held at Toph’s house. They had a large barn on their property that had been renovated into an actual venue for parties, so that was where they were going to walk down the aisle and stand at the altar. Although Zuko had never met Toph’s parents, her mother was apparently ecstatic about the wedding. Not really because Sokka was getting married, but because she just loved weddings. 

Once breakfast was finished, it was time for Sokka and Zuko to be separated. Katara took Sokka to her room to get him ready, while Aang took Zuko to his room. The day before, Zuko hadn’t even thought about the fact that he didn’t have a suit with him to get married in. But it turned out Sokka had already given Toph his suit measurements, and a rented suit was already waiting for Zuko in Aang’s room. 

Zuko insisted he didn’t need to do anything other than put the suit on, but Aang kept saying his hair was a mess and needed to be brushed out. Zuko _had_ brushed his hair that morning, but it was still falling in his face like it always did and that was bugging Aang. 

“How did you learn to do this stuff?” Zuko asked once they were settled in Aang’s room, with Zuko sitting on Aang’s bed as Aang spritzed some kind of smoothing serum into Zuko’s hair. 

“I mean, I’m not doing much at all,” Aang said, laughing a bit. “But honestly, I’ve always liked to play with Katara’s hair. She’d do a lot of really cool hairstyles with, like, loopy things or buns and stuff, and I liked watching her do that because it just looks cool y’know? Eventually, since I liked playing with her hair and stuff, she just taught me how to do some of the hairstyles and how to use certain hair products to make it easier for stuff like that.” 

“That’s… really cute actually,” Zuko said. “I still don’t know what you’re doing to my hair though.” 

Aang snorted. “I was just putting this stuff in it so it’s a little shinier. Is there anything you want me to do with it?” 

Zuko paused for a moment, wondering if he should do anything to his hair. After a moment, he turned to look at Aang. “Do you have a hair tie?” 

A few minutes later, Zuko had managed to tie his hair back in a topknot in a way that was sufficiently neat enough for Aang to give his approval. Then, he took the suit that was hanging on Aang’s door and went into the bathroom to change. The suit, unsurprisingly, didn’t fit him perfectly, but it wasn’t too far off. The suit itself was rather nice. It wasn’t anything too fancy, a normal black, but with red accents along the lapels and cuffs. Aang gave him a red tie as well to finish off the look, and once he was ready, he took a moment to stare in the mirror at himself. 

Zuko had never been sure if he would end up married. When he was a teenager, he’d often thought marrying a woman would be his only option, so he just assumed that if he did get married, it would be to Mai. But once things broke off between them and Zuko left his home life in Japan behind, he knew he’d never marry a woman. But even then, while he could see himself dating guys, the idea of marriage was still so foreign to him. His own parents' marriage hadn’t been a happy one, with Ursa suffering just as much as Zuko had under Ozai’s unrelenting grip. 

He didn’t know how marriage was supposed to _work_. Not properly anyway. And considering his longest relationship besides Mai had been with Jet (which didn’t end well whatsoever), Zuko had resigned himself to the fact that marriage might not be in his future. 

But this was a fake marriage. Zuko had to keep reminding himself of that. This was a lie they were telling everyone. He was lying to Aang right now, just by letting the boy help him get ready. An anxious static began to build in his chest, but Zuko gritted his teeth, trying to force it down. He had to get through this. 

Turning the sink on, Zuko splashed some cold water on his face, careful not to get his suit wet. He focused on the icy shock it sent through his system, trying not to think of what he was doing. Of course, this just made him remember yesterday, and the feeling of water enveloping him as he fell into the lake. He had been worrying about the same thing then. And nothing had changed. He was still going through with this. 

Squeezing his eyes shut, Zuko turned the sink off and dried his face with a washcloth. Then, he straightened back up, took three deep breaths, and opened the door back into Aang’s room. 

“How do I look?” He asked Aang, holding his arms out as he walked towards Aang. 

“Whoa…” Aang’s eyes were blown wide as he looked Zuko up and down, a large grin stretching across his face. “You look amazing, Zuko!” 

“Uh, thanks. The suit is pretty nice, so I think that’s the main part of it,” Zuko said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. 

Aang laughed. “Glad you like it! Me and Gran-Gran picked it out together at the suit place yesterday.” 

“Well you did a good job,” Zuko commented, messing with his cufflinks. His heart was still beating erratically, and looking at Aang’s smiling face certainly wasn’t helping. Needing another minute to breathe, he sat down on Aang’s bed and rested his hands in his lap. 

He expected Aang to ask him if he was alright. But instead, there was a beat of silence, before the bed dipped as Aang sat beside him. 

“Are you kinda freaking out right now?” Aang asked after a moment. 

“A little,” Zuko answered in a small voice, keeping his eyes locked on his shoes. 

“Is it because you feel like you’re making a mistake?” 

Eyes widening, Zuko whipped his head up to look at Aang, whose smile had disappeared in favor of something more somber. It wasn’t a disappointed look, or an upset one. Just understanding. 

Zuko wasn’t sure how to answer him. Because yes, he absolutely felt like he was making a mistake. But if he said that, Aang would think he meant because of Sokka. And it wasn’t Sokka’s fault at all. No, it was the opposite of that. This was all Zuko’s fault. This was his own doing. His own mess. Sokka wasn’t at fault for any of it. 

But he had to get some of what he was thinking out. Even if he couldn’t tell Aang the truth, if he didn’t say something right now and kept pretending everything was alright, he was going to explode. 

“Yes,” he whispered. “But not in the way you think. It’s not because of Sokka.” _It’s because I’m a horribly selfish person._

“Does it have something to do with your family?” Aang asked softly. “Because you don’t talk about them much, and you didn’t mention anything about inviting them to this, so I was wondering if it was because they’re not okay with you marrying a guy.” 

Not exactly, but Zuko couldn’t find another way to explain away what he was feeling. He forced himself to nod, trying to ignore the sick feeling he got from lying to Aang _again_. 

There was a moment of silence between them. Zuko dug his fingernails into his palms, while Aang sat quiet beside him, trying to think of what to say. 

“...you know you deserve to be happy, right Zuko?” 

Aang was staring right at him now, and there was a thick lump forming in Zuko’s throat. 

“O-Of course I know that,” Zuko stammered out, while a little voice whispered in his head _no you don’t. Bad people don’t deserve happy endings._

Aang looked like he didn’t believe him, but he continued anyway. 

“I’m glad you know that. Because you do.” He paused for a moment, as if he was unsure about whether or not to keep speaking. “I… I don’t know what your current relationship with your family is like, but either way, you’re also a part of our family now. Me, Katara, Hakoda, Gran-Gran, Toph—you’re with us now. And we all want you to be happy.” 

Zuko’s throat was quickly starting to close up as his eyes burned. 

“Thanks, Aang,” Zuko whispered. Aang smiled and leaned forward, as if to hug him, but Zuko knew that if that happened he was going to break right here right now. 

So instead, he jumped to his feet. “I need to, uh, use the bathroom.” 

He didn’t give Aang a chance to respond before bolting out of Aang’s room and slamming the bathroom door behind him. Clenching his teeth to try and hide the way his chest was heaving, Zuko leaned against the wall of the bathroom and squeezed his eyes shut. 

_Fuck._

He had no idea how he was going to do this.

🜲 🜲

“I still can’t believe you’re actually going through with this,” Katara muttered as she dug through Sokka’s sock drawer.

“It’s not like I have much of a choice! You heard Gran-Gran! She’s convinced she’s gonna die as soon as we leave Alaska!” Sokka protested from where he was starfished across his bed. 

“I know I know,” Katara grumbled as she threw another mismatched sock pair behind her. “Jesus, do you own any normal socks?” 

“They’re in there somewhere, I promise,” Sokka said, watching as another pair of calf-length floral print men’s socks hit the wall behind her. 

Sokka was already wearing his suit—one that Aang and Gran-Gran had picked out for him from a rental place the day prior because his only other suit here was the one he’d worn to his senior prom—but he still had yet to put his socks and shoes on. His hair was still loose and hanging around his face, as Katara insisted she had to use some weird oil in it to smooth it back before letting him tie it in his wolf tail. 

Usually, Sokka would try to argue with her motherly tendencies. But today he didn’t. Because he had too much on his mind right now, and there was no way he was going to be able to focus on getting dressed when he was getting married to _Zuko_ insanely soon. 

When he had woken up this morning tangled with Zuko in his bed, it was… bliss. It felt right. Like that was how they were supposed to be waking up every morning. Sokka had had no desire to pull away, but Zuko had pulled back rather quickly. 

He could tell that Zuko had been off the entire morning. His nerves about the wedding were as clear as day. Sokka knew it had to be his guilt that was causing it. Sokka wanted to go talk to Zuko, to try and reassure him that everything was alright, but Gran-Gran had left them very clear instructions for that morning. After breakfast, Sokka and Zuko were not to see each other again until the wedding. They weren’t exactly following the ‘don’t see the groom/bride the night before the wedding’ deal, but Gran-Gran still wanted to follow tradition in some minor way. 

So Sokka was stuck here with his sister, worrying about whether or not Zuko was having a panic attack right this second. 

“Found a pair!” Katara announced, holding a pair of black dress socks above her head like a trophy she had just won. Walking over to the foot of the bed, Katara chucked the socks at Sokka’s face. “Put these on so we can take care of your hair.” 

Groaning, Sokka took the socks off his face and sat up. He put them on his feet and went to stand up, before Katara pushed him back down by his shoulder and crawled onto the bed behind him. 

“I’m gonna work on your hair here since there’s no chairs in your room,” Katara explained, already running a hairbrush through Sokka’s hair. He only hummed in response, his thoughts still consumed by Zuko. He was only a room over, but it felt like he was miles away. 

Katara ran the brush through his hair that was still tangled from his shower. She was gentle, working out the knots with some nice smelling spray stuff she had in a bottle. It was weirdly reminiscent of their mother, and how she had always been the one to help Sokka tie his hair back when he was little. The realization made a knot form in his chest. 

“How are you feeling?” Katara asked after a few minutes of silence, now rubbing some type of oil into Sokka’s hair. 

“Honestly? I’m worried as hell,” Sokka admitted, folding his hands in his lap. 

“About the fact that you’re getting married?” 

Sokka sighed. “No. Well, I guess part of it is that. But really I’m just worried about Zuko. I can tell he feels really bad about this whole thing. I bet he’s freaking out right now.” 

Behind him, the comb running through his hair slowed. “At least he feels guilty about this,” Katara muttered, barely loud enough for Sokka to hear. 

Sokka narrowed his eyes. “Katara, don’t blame him. I told you why I agreed to go along with this the first night we got here.” 

“You said it was because he looked afraid when he said he couldn’t go back to Japan. You don’t even know if he actually has a good reason-” 

“He does,” Sokka said, cutting her off. At this point, Katara had stopped brushing Sokka’s hair, and he turned around to face her. “He told me last night why he didn’t want to go back, Katara. And trust me when I tell you that it’s a _really_ good reason.” 

When she met Sokka’s steely blue gaze, Katara’s frown softened as a sigh escaped her lips. “Okay. If you say it’s a good reason I believe you.” Absently, she began to run her fingers over the teeth of the comb in her lap. For a moment, she was silent, and Sokka wondered if she was going to go back to brushing his hair. Then, she glanced up to meet his eyes once more. 

“But be honest with yourself, Sokka. You’re not only doing this out of the goodness of your heart anymore, are you?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I don’t know what you mean by that,” Sokka replied, frowning. 

“You like him.” It wasn’t a question. Just Katara stating something she already knew. 

Sokka blinked, knowing there was no use in denying it. This was _Katara_ he was talking to. She knew him better than anyone else in the world. 

Shoulders sagging, Sokka let his eyes drop to his bedsheets. “I don’t just _like_ him. It’s more than that. I think that if we kept this up… I could fall in love with him.” 

Reaching out, Katara rested her hand on top of Sokka’s. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you’re getting married to him,” she joked, a small smile forming on her face. 

Sokka smiled back. “Yeah, I guess it is.” 

Katara squeezed his hand before letting go, picking up the comb again and gesturing for him to turn around. He did as she asked and tilted his head back, closing his eyes as she began to gently tug his hair back and into a ponytail. 

“Zuko cares about you a lot, you know,” Katara offered after a few minutes of silence, tying off his hair into a ponytail. 

Thinking back to last night, Sokka remembered the sadness in Zuko’s voice as he offered his condolences for what happened to Yue. He remembered the sincere advice Zuko gave him on his dad two days before, the advice that somehow was exactly what he needed to hear, yet so different from anything anyone else had told him. He remembered all the supportive glances, all the soft brushes of his hand to let Sokka know he was there. 

“I know,” Sokka said, a warmth growing in his chest. “I know he does.” 

And that was the thing about Zuko. He was one of the most caring people Sokka knew, even if he didn’t realize it. 

Which was exactly why he was worried about Zuko right now.

🜲 🜲

Although Zuko had been told the barn had been renovated to be used as a fancy venue for parties by the Beifong family, he still hadn’t been expecting it to be as nice as it was.

On the outside, the barn looked like a completely stereotypical barn. Large, red, and vaguely hexagonal. But the paint was fresh, not a single chip in sight. Flowers bloomed in neat hedges along the outside of the barn, and ivy trellis crawled up the sides of the walls. It was designed to look natural, but it was obvious where it had been carefully trimmed to ensure it didn’t get out of hand. String lights hung over the large metal doors, and although they weren’t lit due to it still being bright out, Zuko could imagine the soft glow they emitted when the sun (eventually) set. 

He had only gotten a glimpse of the inside when they had first arrived. Aang had run in after he and Zuko had hopped out of the car, saying something about needing to help wrap lights around the rafters. Zuko wasn’t sure if the implication was that Aang was going to be the one climbing up to the rafters of the barn, or if they were just going to chuck them over. Either way, it didn’t really matter to Zuko, because he had his own problems to think about. 

After his near panic attack in Aang’s bathroom, Zuko’s anxiety had only grown worse. He had stopped trying to act normal around Aang, hoping that Aang would just take his quietness as normal pre-wedding jitters along with what they had spoken about earlier. Thankfully, Aang seemed to be able to sense when Zuko didn’t want to talk, because he didn’t push. Instead, Zuko had just watched in silence as Aang had gotten himself ready, carefully combing back his spiky black hair so it didn't fall in front of his arrow, and putting on his own suit. 

Then, Aang had driven him to the barn. Apparently Toph’s chauffeur had already picked up Sokka and Katara, considering Hakoda and Kanna had already taken the family’s second car to get ready earlier that day. By the time they arrived, the last minute preparations were being set up, and Zuko had been ordered to stay inside the main Beifong house. 

Mrs. Beifong had fussed over him once she met him, rambling about how handsome he was and how convenient it was that he and Sokka looked good together, as it would make the wedding photos look better. Meanwhile, Toph’s father stood off to the side, letting his wife run this circus and only intervening when she needed help. Zuko could feel the weight of Mr. Beifong’s eyes lingering on his scar, though whenever he glanced over, the man was carefully looking at something else. 

Toph had stormed down the stairs at one point. Her hair that was usually tied up in double buns was now pulled up only in a single bun (albeit a very messy one). She was dressed in a rumpled emerald green suit of her own, and when Mrs. Beifong saw her, she sighed and started whispering fervently to Toph. From the little Zuko could make out, he was pretty sure Toph had been supposed to wear a dress that Mrs. Beifong had picked out for her, but she was adamant that there was ‘no way in hell’ she was going to wear a dress. 

Everything was so hectic. People kept popping in and out of the foyer, asking Mrs. Beifong questions like where did the flower vase go or where should they put the decorative statue. Sometimes it was people Zuko recognized—like Katara or Hakoda. Other times it was people he hadn’t gotten a chance to meet yet. 

At one point, Zuko had felt a buzzing from his phone. He took it out of his pocket to see the notification, and gulped when he saw Azula’s name blaring across the screen. 

**Azula:** Hope you have a great big day, Zuzu! Make sure to send wedding pics so I can show them to Dad ;)

Of course Azula knew about the ‘unofficial’ wedding today. Zhao must’ve reported back to her after his confrontation with Zuio and Sokka yesterday. He hated that. He hated that Azula knew what he was doing, and he hated that Azula had sent him that stupid text to taunt him. The buzzing in his chest only grew worse, and he stared at the text for a few minutes before shaking his head and shutting his phone off without replying. She wasn’t going to get the satisfaction. 

Eventually, as time dragged on, things around the house began to slow down. The final decorations were put into place, the catering service was setting up for the reception, the family had all been accounted for, and guests were filing into the barn. Mrs. Beifong became visibly less stressed with every passing moment, a strange serenity replacing the hurried energy she had carried with her earlier. 

Then, Mr. and Mrs. Beifong left as well. The only people that remained in the house were Toph and Zuko. 

The plan had been explained to him as this. Once all the guests were settled, Sokka was going to be led in by Hakoda to the altar. Then, once he was there, Toph was going to take Zuko down to the barn where she was going to hand him off to Kanna, and Kanna was going to lead him to the altar to join Sokka. 

Standing up, Toph looped her arm with Zuko’s, and the two went to stand in the foyer to wait. 

“How are you holding up, Sparky?” Toph asked, leaning against him as Badgermole paced excitedly around their feet. 

“I’m… okay,” Zuko answered in a strangled voice. 

Toph snorted. “That was a terrible attempt at a lie.” 

Zuko shrugged. “Well, I don’t know how you’d expect me to be fine in a situation like this. I’m about to get fake married to my assistant with his entire family watching in order to commit immigration fraud. I think it’s understandable that I’m a little nervous.” 

At this, Toph went quiet for a moment. Her expression was pensive, as if there was something she was considering saying, but wasn’t sure about. This confused type of silence was unusual for her. Even though he’d only known her for a few days, Zuko knew that Toph wasn’t the type of person to hesitate from saying what was on her mind. 

“You didn’t listen to my advice, did you, Zuko?” Toph asked after a moment, voice unusually soft. 

Zuko flashed back to a few days prior. When he was standing outside the general store with Toph. _Sokka’s the kind of person who’s really easy to fall in love with._ Zuko didn’t really get it at the time. But he did now. Because Toph was right. It was incredibly easy for Zuko to start falling for Sokka. And now he’s in an even bigger mess than he already was. 

“...no, I didn’t,” Zuko muttered in reply. 

“Figured you wouldn’t,” Toph shrugged. “So that’s why you seem absolutely miserable right now? Because you’re getting fake married to a guy you actually are into?” 

Zuko sighed. “That’s part of it but… that’s not the main thing I’m focusing on here.” He shifted his weight and straightened up, while still keeping his eyes on the ground. “It’s more about the fact that I’m about to go into that barn and lie to every single person in there. Hakoda, Kanna, Aang, Suki—I’m gonna say vows that don’t mean anything. I’m going to make it seem like I’m becoming a part of a family that I shouldn’t even be welcome into!” His voice rose as he continued to speak, and he was nearly shouting by the end of his sentence. 

Beside him, Toph set a hand on his arm. “Look, I’m not exactly a paragon of morality or anything. If I was in this situation, I’d say that what they don’t know won’t hurt them. You’re doing this to get out of a bad situation for yourself, and Sokka agreed to it. It’s not the best thing to do, sure, but it doesn’t make you the bad guy here.” 

Logically, he knew that what she was saying was right. But Zuko _knew_ that this wasn’t right. He knew that accepting this unearned kindness from Sokka’s family, that letting them believe he was really one of them, that taking advantage of these people—it was wrong. He didn’t need his Uncle around to tell him that. 

“But I am the bad guy,” Zuko whispered. “I always have been. And even now, after trying to change for so long, I’m still not doing the right thing.” 

Suddenly, there was a ringing on Toph’s phone. She answered it, and gave a quick nod of her head before pocketing it once more. She nodded at Zuko, and he knew what that meant. It was time to go meet Kanna at the front. 

Toph opened the front doors to the house and led him down the grassy hill towards the barn. He could see Kanna waiting patiently outside the metal doors, a prim blue dress and shawl sticking out against the vibrant kelly green of the grass that covered the field. 

“You know, I’m going to give you some advice here that most people probably wouldn’t,” Toph said as they were walking down, her voice low. 

“You seem to give a lot of advice,” Zuko commented, keeping his arm looped with hers as they reached the bottom of the hill. 

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m pretty smart like that,” Toph said, smirking at him. Her expression shifted after a moment to something more serious, and she leaned in closer before dropping her voice to a whisper. “It might not seem like it, but there’s always a way out, Sparky. If you’re stuck in a situation you really don’t want to be in, you can always just… leave. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” 

Zuko blinked, staring at Toph. She just told him he could leave. As simple as that. 

There wasn’t even a moment for him to process Toph’s words though before Kanna was marching up and taking Toph’s place by his side. 

“Thank you, Toph, for escorting him down here,” Kanna said, smiling at Toph. 

“No problemo, Gran-Gran. I’m gonna go find my seat, so I’ll see you guys in a sec,” Toph said, giving the two a thumbs up as if she hadn’t just given Zuko a complete internal crisis. She walked away from them and opened the metal doors, slipping inside with Badgermole before they shut behind her. 

The anxiety buzzing around his body was unbearable now. It felt like every nerve ending of his was lit up like an electrical wire, and his heart was racing as if he’d just sprinted a full mile. 

Kanna didn’t seem to notice. She just patted his hand as she guided him towards the doors. 

“Are you ready?” She asked. 

Zuko couldn’t figure out how to respond without his voice breaking, so he just nodded instead. Kanna patted his arm one more time before gesturing to the doors, and Zuko pulled them open with a hand that felt as if it were made of lead. 

The inside of the barn was just as beautiful as the outside. The walls were made of warm wood panels, with string lights hung up all around to cast the entire room in a soft glow. There were two large windows letting natural light pour into the room, and the aisle they were walking on was littered with dried flowers. 

The music started up, and they began to walk down the aisle. 

Zuko’s heart in his ears was drowning out the music. Each step was done on autopilot, his mind racing as he took in all the familiar faces surrounding him. There were Teo and The Mechanist, both dressed in rather… unique floral print suits. There was a group of ragtag kids, and Zuko recognized one of them as ‘Smellerbee’ from the party the first day. Suki was seated near the aisle, and she gave Zuko an encouraging smile as he passed by. Closer to the front sat Aang, Hakoda, and Toph. Next to him, he glanced to Kanna, and it was like being stabbed through the chest. 

And then, he looked straight ahead. 

Waiting under a wooden altar wrapped in flowers, Sokka stood with his hands folded in front of him, his eyes wide as he looked Zuko over. He was wearing a suit very similar to Zuko’s own, but instead of the red accents along the lapels and cuffs, he had a deep, sapphire blue accenting his instead. Even from here, Zuko could see how the string lights above his head were making his blue eyes glitter, and the small smile on his face filled Zuko with an almost joyful feeling he was sure he’d never felt before. 

The lump in his throat was huge, and a wave of nausea rolled over him. They were almost to the altar now, and Zuko couldn’t bear it. The guilt was crushing him. 

Toph’s words rang in his ears. 

_You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to._

Zuko couldn’t do this. This was the wrong thing to do, and he was tired of being the bad guy. 

Kanna let go of his arm once they had reached the altar, and Zuko took his place across from Sokka. Kanna returned to her own seat, and Zuko didn’t look at Sokka. Instead, he looked to the man officiating the wedding, and recognized him as Hakoda’s friend Bato. 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Bato began, “friends and family. We are gathered here today to witness the union of two amazing young men. Sokka-” 

“Uh,” Zuko found himself speaking up without even making the decision to do so. “C-Can I say something first?” 

Bato paused, blinking at Zuko. “Huh?” 

“I-I just need to say something. To everyone. Before we do this,” Zuko stammered, keeping his voice low. 

Across from him, Sokka seemed… concerned. “What are you doing, Zuko?” He whispered, his eyes wide. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Zuko whispered back. 

By now, worried murmurs had started to circulate throughout the pews. Taking a shaky breath to try and calm himself, Zuko turned to face the guests, knowing that this needed to be done. 

“Uh, everyone?” He called out awkwardly. “C-Can I have your attention? It’s, uh, Zuko here.” 

The pews fell silent as everyone stared at him, all wearing identical expressions of confusion. Katara and Toph were the only exceptions to this. Katara was burying her face in her hands, while Toph was giving Zuko a somber but encouraging look. When he looked further, he spotted Zhao sitting in the far back corner of the barn. Clearly he had come to see if they’d actually get married. Right now, he seemed almost gleeful. 

It didn’t matter though. Zuko wasn’t going to back out of this. 

“Look, there is something that I need to confess. About me and Sokka, and our engagement,” he said, clenching his teeth. 

“Zuko, seriously, what are you-” 

“It’s okay, Sokka,” Zuko turned, lowering his voice to whisper to him. “I know what I’m doing.” 

Huffing, Sokka stepped back, folding his arms over his chest. 

“So, uh, I am not from America,” Zuko picked back up, turning to the guests once more. “I’m from Japan. I grew up there, I went to school there, until eventually I graduated college, and got offered a job from my Uncle who lived in New York. For me this was a saving grace, because I had a rather complicated relationship with my family in Japan, so getting to live in the United States was an escape for me. And up until recently, I had planned to stay in the USA indefinitely. But then I forgot to file some visa paperwork, and I got a deportation notice.” 

A few looks of understanding began to flash through the crowd. 

Zuko gulped, digging his nails into his palms as he continued. 

“I was… too afraid to go back to Japan and face my problems with my family. In fact, it scared me more than anything else had in a long time. So in an act of desperation, I decided to blackmail my assistant, Sokka, into marrying me.” 

One glance at Hakoda told Zuko he was furious. Meanwhile, Aang looked heartbroken, while Kanna was simply staring at her lap. Beside him, Sokka was hanging his head in shame. 

“I thought it would be an easy thing to go through with. But… then I met everyone here,” Zuko said, ignoring the malicious joy that was written across Zhao’s face in the back. “You all were so kind to me, and welcomed me into your lives with open arms. Like I’d said before, I didn’t have the best relationship with my own family growing up, so to have you all embrace me so quickly and treat me as one of your own… it meant a lot to me.” 

His eyes started to burn, and Zuko coughed to try and clear his throat. 

“I’m so sorry for lying to all of you, and taking advantage of the kindness you showed me,” Zuko said to the section with Hakoda, Katara, Kanna, and Aang, his voice thick with tears. Then, he turned to look back to Sokka. “You have an amazing family. And I’m so sorry for all of this.” 

Before he could give Sokka a chance to respond, Zuko forced himself to turn and walk back down the aisle, looking straight ahead despite the dozens of eyes boring into him, even as Zhao stepped forward to block his path. 

“Get your car ready,” Zuko hissed to Zhao. “You’re driving me to the airport.” 

Zhao, who was grinning wickedly, nodded. “Sure thing, Zuko.” 

And the two men walked out of the barn, letting the metal doors slam shut behind them.

🜲 🜲

Somehow, Sokka wasn’t surprised by what had happened.

His heart ached. Horribly. Watching Zuko walk out those doors was like he had been punched right in the gut, taking away all the air in his lungs. Sokka was torn in two. One part of him felt the desperate urge to _move_. To chase after Zuko, grab him by the arm, and demand why he just did what he did. 

But the other part of him was frozen in place, unable to move as voices began to rise throughout the barn. The silence grew to confused murmurs, then to worried conversation, before some people were full on shouting asking what was going on. He was pretty sure he heard Mrs. Beifong wailing about the wasted cake. 

There was only one group Sokka was focused on right now though. He forced his head to turn from the doors and to the very front of the pews, where his father had a frown etched across his face. Meanwhile, Gran-Gran was keeping her head bowed, and Aang just seemed extremely confused—and definitely upset. 

“Sokka,” Hakoda’s voice cut through the chaos, without him even raising his voice. He was storming towards Sokka, leaving Gran-Gran and Aang still sitting in the pews, and Sokka felt his stomach drop to his knees. “Is what he said true?” 

There were hard lines in his father’s deeply bronzed face. His eyes were narrowed, his mouth set in a grimace. Sokka had fucked up. 

Shoulders sagging, Sokka let out the breath he’d been holding ever since they arrived in Alaska. The one that held all his secret fears that they were going to be discovered, that his family was going to find out that he had lied to them and hate him for it. He had never told Zuko these fears—god knew the guy was stressed enough already. But now they had finally reached the surface, and the permanent worry that had lingered in his gut dissipated because it was done. They knew. 

“Yes, it’s true,” Sokka said quietly. 

“I can’t believe you,” Hakoda hissed in an equally low voice. “It’s one thing that you were committing a federal crime that could get you imprisoned, but the fact that you lied to us. Your family-” 

“Dad, stop it.” Katara’s voice rang out clear as day, and suddenly there was a hand wrapped around Sokka’s arm. He glanced up to see his sister standing beside him, meeting their father’s gaze without wavering. “He had a good reason to do this.” 

Hakoda’s eyes widened as he glanced to his daughter. “You knew about this?!” He demanded. 

Katara nodded. “I was suspicious of their relationship from the beginning. I confronted Sokka the first night he was here and he told me the truth.” 

“So you’ve known he was lying to us this entire time, and you were just okay with this?” Hakoda asked. 

“Like I said, he had a good reason,” Katara repeated. 

Hakoda sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “So what is this ‘great reason’ for lying to your family about getting _married?_ For introducing us to someone while telling us he was going to become a part of our family, and even letting us put on an entire wedding for the two of you?” 

Sokka gulped, and forced himself to meet his father’s gaze head on. “I can’t tell you what it is exactly, but Zuko can’t go back to Japan. It has to do with his family.” 

The frown on Hakoda’s face deepened. “I understand he has family issues, but that still doesn’t justify committing a federal crime and breaking your grandmother’s heart!” 

“Dad, please.” Sokka gave his father a pleading look, begging him to understand. “He doesn’t just have normal family issues. He was terrified of going back to Japan. His family is super fucked up, especially his dad, to the point where he’d be in physical danger if he went back there.” 

Now _that_ seemed to strike a nerve in Hakoda. His angered expression fell away into shock, and he blinked a few times at Sokka. 

“You don’t mean to tell me… that scar…” 

“It’s not my story to tell, but whatever you’re thinking is probably right,” Sokka said, glancing to the ground. Beside him, Katara gasped as she put the pieces together. 

Then, Gran-Gran’s voice hit Sokka’s ears. 

“You were trying to protect someone you cared about,” Gran-Gran said, hobbling over with Aang at her arm. “While lying is never something to be proud of, doing it to protect others is a noble intention.” 

“Gran-Gran, I’m so sorry-” 

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Gran-Gran cut him off, holding a hand up. “It definitely hurts to know that you lied to us, and that you felt the need to pretend to be in a relationship instead of just explaining what was going on to your family and trusting that we would help you. But you were trying to do the right thing, so it’s alright.” 

Sokka blinked. He hadn’t even considered just telling his family about the situation and trusting that they would cover for him with Zhao. Shit. That would’ve been a lot simpler. 

“Alright, Gran-Gran, thank you,” Sokka said, dipping his head in respect towards her. She smiled at him, and some of the pain in his chest faded, just for a second. 

“But I’m still confused.” Sokka turned to look at Aang, who hadn’t spoken until now. While he had initially seemed upset at the revelation, now his furrowed brows told Sokka he was just trying to figure things out. 

“About why Sokka lied to us?” Katara asked, matching Aang’s quizzical look. 

“No no, I get that,” Aang said, folding his arms across his chest. “But you and Zuko really aren’t dating?” 

Heat flooded to Sokka’s cheeks, and he ignored Katara’s snicker beside him. “No, we’re not. We never were.” 

“But-” Aang was cut off by Toph randomly materializing at his side, and yanking him down by the suit jacket to whisper in his ear. Aang’s eyes widened, and after a moment, she let him go and a strange grin spread across Aang’s face. 

“Never mind, I get it now,” he said, smirking at Sokka. Sokka wanted to ask what the hell Toph had told him, but Katara spoke before he got a chance. 

“Wait, Toph, did you know about this?” Katara asked, looking to the short girl. 

Toph snorted. “Duh. I’ve known ever since I met Zuko. I can tell when people are lying. It’s super easy.” 

Katara and Aang both exchanged shocked looks, color rising in their cheeks as they thought back to all the times Toph had definitely known they were lying. If Sokka hadn’t still been feeling so miserable, he would’ve laughed because that was his exact reaction a few days prior. 

“Sorry to interrupt-” Sokka turned around to see Bato awkwardly joining the group from where he’d still been standing by the altar, waiting to officiate a wedding that wasn’t happening. “But I’m wondering where Zuko went?” 

At this, the entire group went silent. Because Zuko had stormed out with Zhao, and disappeared to wherever the two of them were going. Technically, Zuko had just chosen to voluntarily deport himself. So that meant that he was probably going back to New York to get his things before heading back to Japan. 

Which meant he was probably at the house right now. Packing his stuff up in Sokka’s room. 

“He’s at our house,” Sokka told everyone. “He’s probably about to leave for the airport so he can go back to New York.” 

“You have to stop him,” Katara said, turning to face him. “There’s no way you can let him leave now.” 

She was right. If Zuko left now, Sokka might not be able to get back to New York in time to see him before he went back to Japan. He had to get to him. Had to stop this from happening. 

“Yeah, you definitely have to stop him,” Aang agreed, already pulling on Sokka’s jacket sleeve. 

“Wait, you can’t just-” 

Hakoda was cut off by Gran-Gran’s wrinkled hand resting on his shoulder. “Let him go. I may be old, but I can still sense love in the air when it’s around.” 

“Wait, you don’t mean to tell me that-” 

Gran-Gran cut him off again. “Oh my sweet son, you’ve always been a little oblivious,” she said with a laugh. Hakoda’s eyes widened as the understanding hit him of what the nature of Sokka and Zuko’s relationship really was. 

He watched as his son ran out of the barn, followed by Katara, Aang, and Toph. 

“I think I’m starting to catch up at least,” he said after a moment. 

Aang led the group out to the car he had driven Zuko over in. Sokka hopped in the passenger seat, Katara and Toph jumping in the back, while Aang started the engine. They were in a race against time now, and the group knew that. 

As teenagers, Sokka had always been the driver for their friend group. Mostly because he’d had his license for the longest time. Of course, he’d been in situations where Katara or Aang had driven them before, so Sokka knew that Aang was a safe driver (for the most part). Sure he’d go maybe 15 miles above the speed limit on empty roads, but besides that he usually stuck to the rules of the road. 

Clearly, college had changed Aang. Because Sokka had never actually been _afraid_ while riding in a car with Aang as the driver. 

Aang was racing back to the house at breakneck speed. The time pressure was on, and Aang wasn’t going to let speed limits be the reason that Zuko got deported. In the backseat, Badgermole was sliding across Katara and Toph’s laps, the cute dog smile never leaving his face even as Katara clutched the side of her seat for dear life and Toph grinned like a madman. At one point they went around a particularly sharp curve, and Sokka had to bite back a yelp as the car began to tilt sideways. 

They made it back home in record time. By the time they had slowed and pulled into the driveway, Sokka was certain his stomach was up in his throat. Meanwhile, Toph couldn’t stop laughing, while Katara seemed… used to this? 

Huh. Things to think about when he wasn’t trying to stop his fake fiance from leaving the country. 

Hopping out of the car, Sokka rushed into the house, not even realizing there hadn’t been any other cars in the driveway besides their own. He slammed open the front door and looked around frantically, and after seeing nothing, sprinted up the stairs to his own room. 

His room… was empty. 

All of his own things were there still. The tie he had almost worn to the wedding this morning but had thrown to the side was still hanging off his nightstand. The dozens of colorful socks Katara had chucked to the wall when searching for his dress socks still sat in a large pile near his door. The t-shirt he had slept in the night before still sat on the floor next to his bed. 

But all of Zuko’s things were gone. The black duffel bag he’d kept in the corner of Sokka’s room was gone. The sweatshirt he’d thrown to the floor the night before after they’d gotten back from drinking was gone as well. His phone charger—distinctive in the fact that it was one of those fancy extra long ones Sokka had always envied—wasn’t plugged into the wall on Zuko’s side of the bed anymore. 

There was only one sign that Zuko had even been here at all. And it was a small piece of paper that was sitting on top of Sokka’s pillow. 

Sokka moved as if he was underwater. All the racing energy from before had disappeared with the realization that Zuko was gone. Now he was just left with a heaviness in his bones, and the still present ache in his chest. He reached for the paper, and could already see Zuko’s distinctive, weirdly neat handwriting scrawled across it in dark ink. 

_Sokka,_

_There’s a lot I wish I could tell you, but there’s only so much room on this paper and probably not a lot of time before you get here, so I have to make this short. You know me better than almost anyone else, so you already know what I’m going to say here. But I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry I ever got you involved in this mess in the first place. You never deserved this. None of it. I probably could’ve talked to my Uncle to make sure The Warden wouldn’t fire you after I left. Honestly, I probably could have just told him to promote you after I left and he would have done it. I didn’t think of that at the time, and I regret that. It could have saved you so much trouble._

_I’m sorry I was so selfish. There are so many ways I could’ve been better._

_You are one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met Sokka. You’re an insanely hard worker, despite all the shit I gave you for the past three years. You are extremely smart and creative, coming up with solutions the rest of us wouldn’t have even considered. You always seem to know just what to do. Not to mention, you’re also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. You always know just how to make me laugh if I’m in a bad mood._

_But more than that, you’re a good person, Sokka. You helped me, even though I’d done nothing but make your life miserable for the past three years. You stuck by my side, even lying to an immigration agent and to your own family for my sake. You’re so compassionate, even if you don’t want to admit it._

_These past few days have been some of the best I’ve had in a long time. I’m going to miss the lake, and singing in the car, and going to karaoke night at the bar. But more than anything, I’m going to miss you, Sokka. I’m not asking for forgiveness, because I don’t deserve it. But you’ve become one of my best friends over the course of a few days. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to find someone like you again._

_And because I know you, Sokka, I’m going to tell you not to worry about me. I’m an adult. I can handle my father much better than I was able to as a teenager. So please, don’t waste your energy worrying if I’m okay._

_I’m going to make arrangements with my Uncle so that you get your promotion even after I’m gone. And I’m also going to arrange your meeting with him as well. You deserve it._

_You deserve a lot of things. And you deserve much better than to have me as a fake husband._

_Once again, I’m sorry._

_Zuko_

Sokka put the letter back down on the pillow, the words racing over and over in his mind. Behind him, he heard a door creak open, and turned to see Suki making her way into his room. 

“Suki? What are you doing here?” Sokka asked, his voice more hoarse than he thought it would be. 

Suki gave him a small, but sad smile as she shut the door behind her. “I saw you run out with Aang, Katara, and Toph and knew you were heading here. I figured you might want someone not really in your family to talk to after… all that.” 

Gulping, Sokka dropped his eyes to the ground. She knew him so well, even after all these years. 

“Yeah, that was a lot,” Sokka muttered. 

Walking towards him, Suki placed a hand on his arm. “How are you feeling right now?” 

Frowning, Sokka glanced back at the letter and tried to parse through his racing thoughts. He was upset. That much was obvious. He was upset, and he was sad, and he was confused, but right now, looking at that note, more than anything he was… 

“Honestly? I’m kind of pissed right now,” Sokka said, picking up the letter again. “This was not part of our plan. Our plan was to get married this morning. That was our agreement! And then Zuko goes and announces our entire sham to the whole wedding, and then he just _runs away_.” Scoffing, Sokka brushed Suki’s arm off of him as he began to pace around the room, a heat stirring inside of him. “And he doesn’t even have the courage to face me afterwards! Instead, he just leaves me this goddamn note saying everything I want to hear and making me feel like I want to cry and punch him at the same time, without actually even being here himself!” 

Suki’s eyes widened. She hadn’t been expecting this reaction. 

“Sokka… you have every right to be upset, but I think you can also see why he did it,” Suki offered gently. 

“Why?! Because he felt guilty? I told him it was fine because my family wasn’t going to find out, but that doesn’t work if he tells my family about this whole charade!” Sokka argued. 

Shaking her head, Suki rested both of her hands on his arms once more. “I’m sure he felt guilty, but I don’t think that was his only reason for doing this. I think you know that too.” 

“Oh really? And what would that be?” 

Sighing, Suki looked like she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Because he’s been falling in love with you this entire trip?” 

Blinking, Sokka opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when no words came out. Of course he’d known their relationship wasn’t just platonic. But hearing someone else say it—hearing _Suki_ confirm what Sokka had been thinking this entire time—it was a different feeling. 

“And you’ve been falling in love with him too, haven’t you?” Suki asked after another moment, giving him a gentle smile. 

“...I hate how well you can read me,” Sokka muttered, his cheeks burning red. 

“Just one of my many talents,” Suki joked, letting her hands drop from Sokka’s arms. They fell silent for a moment, Sokka’s gaze lingering on the letter, and Suki’s eyes never leaving Sokka. 

Then, Suki spoke once more. 

“So are you gonna go after him?” She asked. 

Whipping his head towards her, Sokka narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? He’s already left.” 

Suki shrugged. “I mean, Anchorage is two hours away, and he might have some time before his flight.” 

Holy shit. Suki was right. If Zuko had left just ten minutes before Sokka showed up, he and Zhao wouldn’t be at the airport for a while. And even then, he could be waiting there for an hour or more. That would give Sokka plenty of time to catch up to him. 

“This is why you’re my favorite person in the entire world,” Sokka said, a grin spreading across his cheeks as he shoved the letter in his pocket. He raced out of his room with Suki at his heels, the heaviness leaving his shoulders as he realized that he still had a chance. 

Downstairs, Katara, Toph, and Aang were all sitting in the living room, with Aang and Katara looking somber while Toph just seemed pensive. When they (Katara and Aang) spotted Sokka’s wide grin though, hope flashed across their faces. Toph just continued to pet Badgermole. 

“Where are you going?” Katara asked as Sokka grabbed the car keys off the hook. 

“To the airport. I gotta try and catch Zuko before he gets on his plane,” Sokka said, throwing a normal jacket on over his dress shirt. 

“Oh! That’s awesome, Sokka!” Aang quipped, standing up. “Let me just grab my sweatshirt.” 

Sokka blinked at Aang, then noticed how Katara and Toph were standing up as well. Beside him, Suki was smirking. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Uh, we’re going with you obviously,” Katara scoffed. 

“...it’s a two hour drive to Anchorage,” Sokka said. 

“We’re well aware, Snoozles,” Toph replied, stomping over to him. “Doesn’t mean we’re just gonna let you go after your boyfriend alone!” She punched him in the arm without warning, and he yelped. 

“Guys, seriously, you don’t have to-” 

“You really think you’re gonna be able to talk them out of this?” Suki asked, raising an eyebrow. 

One look at Suki was all it took for Sokka to know she was right. There was no way he was going to be able to keep the others from joining them. “I guess that means you’re along for the ride too?” 

“Take a wild guess, Sokka.” 

A few minutes later, the five of them were cramming into the five-person car Aang had nearly killed them in less than an hour before. This time, Sokka was the one driving. Suki sat in the front, with Toph, Katara, and Aang squeezed into the back. 

“You know, if we do end up making it in time, I’m not exactly sure how we’re gonna get Zuko back to the house with all of us squeezed in here like this,” Katara pointed out, looking at Badgermole’s tail wagging excitedly in her lap. 

“It’s fine! Sparky can always fit in the trunk!” Toph replied with a beaming smile. 

Sighing, Sokka knew that this was going to be a long drive. 

Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic on the way to Anchorage. Sokka had made this drive dozens of times before, so the route was ingrained into him to the point where he didn’t need to think about where he was going as he drove. 

It was an odd feeling, driving to the airport in another race against time. To Sokka, this almost felt like the convoluted plot of some movie. Chasing after the guy he liked before he got on a plane and was out of Sokka’s life forever. Honestly, always could have seen himself doing something dramatic like that for a person he really cared about. But if someone had told Sokka from a week ago that he would be doing that for _Zuko_ , he would’ve laughed the person out of the room. 

Things were so different now. Everything in Sokka’s life had been flipped upside-down because of Zuko, and he couldn’t find it in himself to want it any other way. 

But even so, he couldn’t ignore the anxiety coursing through him. All of his insides were buzzing. His heart was racing and refused to calm down, because he knew that if he made one mistake, he could lose Zuko. And the thought of that was unbearable. 

The drive was quiet, for the most part. Katara and Aang talked in low voices in the back, with Toph loudly interjecting whenever she felt the need. Suki didn’t try to talk to him, and for that he was grateful. She took control of the aux, music keeping the car (and Sokka’s racing thoughts) from the suffocation of dead silence. 

Eventually, they began to see airport signs popping up on the sides of the freeway. Sokka sped the car up, darting between lanes because he had to get there faster. He had already wasted so much time. 

Then, they were there, pulling into departing flights. As soon as he had pulled over on the curb, he leapt out of the car, while Suki ran around to the driver’s seat to go park the car. Aang, Katara, and Toph all followed Sokka into the airport. 

Sokka’s dress shoes clicked loudly against the tile floors of the airport. He ignored the odd stares as the other patrons watched a guy in half a suit with a sweatshirt thrown over his head run towards the information desk. 

“Sir, is there something I can-” 

“I need to know when the next flight to New York City is leaving,” Sokka said, cutting the woman off as he slammed his hands against the desk. 

The woman blinked, taking in his disheveled state. Her eyes glanced over his shoulder, presumably at Aang, Katara, and Toph (who were still dressed for a wedding as well). Then, she turned to her computer without a comment. 

“Uh, alright it looks like the next flight for New York is…” she winced. “Oh, it’s boarding now. That’s bad luck.” 

Katara shoved her way up beside him. “When’s the next flight leaving after that?” She demanded. 

“Let me see…” the woman clicked a few keys on her keyboard, before frowning. “I’m sorry, it seems like that’s the last flight out we have to New York today.” 

Shit. _Shit_. That meant Zuko had to be on that flight. 

“What gate is it?” Sokka demanded. 

“Sir, the flight is full, I’m afraid you can’t book a ticket especially not while they’re in the midst of boarding-” 

“I’m not trying to get on the flight! I’m trying to keep someone from getting on it!” Sokka cried out, feeling like he wanted to rip his hair out. 

For a moment, the woman looked sympathetic. Her lips pursed and she looked to her computer again, as if she was going to try and see if she could help him in some way or another. But then, her eyes landed on the screen and widened ever so slightly, and she sighed. 

“They just finished boarding,” she said softly. “The gates are closed. I’m sorry.” 

_The gates are closed._

It was over. Zuko was on that plane, behind those closed gates. There was no way for Sokka to get to him now. 

He was too late. He’d failed. 

Visibly deflating, Sokka stepped back from the desk, muttering a ‘thanks’ as he turned back to Aang and Toph. Aang’s eyes were watering, while Toph had her lips set in a tight grimace. As Sokka rejoined the two of them, Toph reached up and Sokka braced himself for another punch, but instead all she did was lightly pat him on the back. 

“I’m sorry, Sokka,” Aang murmured. 

Sokka only shrugged, a numb sensation beginning to crawl over him. He wasn’t going to see Zuko again. Their relationship had ended before it could even start. 

His chest hurt. 

It was only then that Sokka realized there was someone missing from the group. Well, two people technically, but he knew that Suki was probably trying to find airport parking like the MVP she was. 

But Katara wasn’t here. 

Looking up from his feet, Sokka saw Katara still standing at the information desk, talking with the woman. There was a smile on her face, and she nodded before turning around and walking away from the desk, past their group and towards a ticket kiosk. 

“What are you doing, Katara? It’s over. He’s gone,” Sokka said, unable to keep the misery out of his tone. 

“I’m booking you a flight,” Katara said in her matter of fact way, tapping at the screen of the kiosk. 

“You heard the lady! The last flight of the day just left!” Sokka protested. 

Turning to look at him over her shoulder, Katara fixed him with a dead stare. 

“Sokka, Zuko’s going to need to go back to his apartment and the office to move his stuff out, right?” She asked. 

“Uh, yeah? I’d assume so?” Sokka wasn’t sure where she was going with this. 

“Sokka. There’s a flight that leaves at 7 am tomorrow morning. You’d be back in New York by the afternoon.” 

And suddenly… things didn’t seem so hopeless to Sokka anymore.

🜲 🜲

The golden light of a sun just beginning to set lit up Zuko’s office as he watched his desk get dismantled.

He was exhausted. After his dramatic exit from the wedding the day before, everything had gone so fast. Zhao had driven him to the house so he could pack his things, then the two made their way to Anchorage to catch the last flight of the day back to New York. The flight was nine hours long, and that coupled with the time difference meant that it was 4 am in New York when Zuko landed. 

But he couldn’t rest. Zhao had explained that he only had two days to get his things settled before he had to voluntarily deport himself from the country. He had a flight booked for Tokyo that was leaving tomorrow morning, and he had to get everything moved out of his office and apartment before then. 

The only good part about how fast everything was moving was that there was no time for Zuko to actually sit and think about what he was doing. Every time he remembered that by tomorrow night he was going to be seeing his father in person for the first time in years, a wave of nausea would roll over him. But then he would think about something else that needed to be packed, and the anxiety would fade away with distraction. 

More than distracting from his fears about seeing his family again though, Zuko was grateful for the business because it gave him no time to think about Sokka. If he thought about Sokka too much, Zuko would lose his nerve to do this, he knew it. It had only been a day since he’d last seen Sokka and Zuko already missed him horribly. When he had woken up from his (very brief) nap this morning, Zuko had been half-asleep and expecting to feel a warm arm thrown over his waist. He waited to hear Sokka’s steady heartbeat against his ear, he waited for the smell of Sokka’s ocean breeze shampoo to wafe over Zuko. 

But all he had were his cold bedsheets and the lingering smell of the airport. 

Zuko knew that the minute he was actually back in Japan, that life went back to its normal speed, that he was going to break down. But he couldn’t think about that right now. He couldn’t think because he had things to handle. 

Shoving the lingering sadness to the back of his mind, Zuko watched the moving men as they carefully began to lift pieces of his desk up. 

“Make sure to put that towards the back of the truck, it’s going straight to the storage facility,” Zuko explained to the men as they carried the desk parts out of the room. The men nodded and shut the door behind them, and Zuko was left to shove the rest of his things into boxes before they came back up. 

Looking at the few items from his desk scattered across the floor, Zuko sighed and bent down to start putting them into the cardboard box sitting by his foot. He picked up his cup of pens and shoved it inside without much care. Then, he grabbed one of his old planners and shoved it in there as well. 

His hand drifted to the calendar he’d kept on his desk, and paused. Sokka would often write notes on it for him, whether to remind him of a meeting or a phone call he had scheduled that he knew Zuko would forget about otherwise. On this date, Sokka had written that he had a phone call planned with Jeong Jeong. 

Well, that had never happened. 

Zuko’s fingers traced over the jagged edges of Sokka’s handwriting. Just a week ago, things had been so simple. Sokka was his assistant, and nothing more. Now, just seeing a note Sokka had written made his heart ache more than it had in years. 

The door to his office opened, and Zuko didn’t bother looking up. 

“Um, sorry guys can you give me a minute? I’ll have the rest of the boxes ready to go soon,” he said, grabbing the edge of the calendar but not picking it up. 

A hand reached down to grab the calendar on the other side. A hand that was a deep bronzed color, and had rough calluses on the palms. 

Breath catching in his throat, Zuko tilted his head up to see Sokka staring down at him. 

“Long time no see, huh?” Sokka said in way of greeting, smirking at Zuko. 

Zuko’s heart thudded painfully in his chest. He gaped at Sokka, brain unable to comprehend that he was actually here right now. He had already resigned himself to likely never seeing Sokka again. But here he was. Not under an altar in Alaska wearing a tuxedo, but standing in his office, dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans. 

Slowly, Zuko rose to his feet. 

“H-How did-” 

“I caught a 7 am flight out of Anchorage this morning. I came here straight from JFK,” Sokka explained, the smirk softening. Zuko stared at him in shock, and Sokka reached into his sweatshirt pocket to pull out a piece of paper. “I read your letter by the way.” 

The letter. Zuko had almost forgotten about that in the chaos of everything. He had written that thing in a hurried frenzy, trying to get all of his thoughts down onto paper as fast as possible so that Sokka wouldn’t come back to the house and find him. 

“I… I told you not to worry about me,” Zuko said quietly, unable to take his eyes off of Sokka. “Why did you come back here?” 

The small smile that remained on Sokka’s face fell away completely, and he folded the letter back up before taking a step towards Zuko. 

“Well, for one thing, telling someone not to worry about you doesn’t really make it easy to not worry,” Sokka began. “But I’m mainly here because I don’t want you to leave the country.” 

Clenching his jaw, Zuko tried not to wince at that. “Seriously Sokka, it’ll be fine. I’ll stay in Japan for a year and I’ll get over my shit with my family and-” 

“No, you’re misunderstanding me,” Sokka said, taking another step forward so he and Zuko were right in front of each other. “Of course I was worried about you, but when I say I don’t want you to leave the country, I mean,” he reached out and took Zuko’s hands in his own. “I don’t want you to leave _me_.” 

Zuko’s mouth went dry as his stomach did a flip. This had to be a dream. 

“Why?” Zuko whispered, heart pounding out of his ears. 

“Because a few days ago, you were just my boss who I really didn’t like all that much. And then we went and had our adventure in Alaska, and you somehow became one of the most important people in my life in a matter of days,” Sokka explained, his own voice extremely low. “By the time our wedding came around, I knew you meant a lot to me. But it didn’t really hit me just how hard I was falling for you until I was left standing at that altar, by myself, without my husband.” 

“Sokka, I-” 

“No, listen to me, Zuko,” Sokka cut him off. “I know you keep piling all this guilt onto yourself, and that you think you’re a terrible person who doesn’t deserve to be happy, but that’s not true at all. You made a mistake, and so did I. That’s it. It was just a mistake.” 

“But I betrayed your family’s trust,” Zuko whispered, eyes wide as he stared at Sokka. 

“And they’ve already forgiven you for it,” Sokka responded. “Because that’s what family does, Zuko. You make mistakes and you hurt each other but you forgive each other because you always have to be there for them.” 

They’ve forgiven him. Just like that. Despite the lying. Despite the betrayal. Because Sokka was saying he was a part of their family now. 

“You deserve to be happy, Zuko.” 

Sokka was rubbing small circles into the back of Zuko’s hands now, and he was struggling to keep his breathing steady. 

“But… but I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” Zuko said. “I have a ticket booked and everything.” 

To Zuko’s surprise, Sokka’s smirk returned at this. 

“Then let’s try this again,” he began, bringing a hand up to the back of Zuko’s head. “Marry me, Zuko. Because I want to date you.” 

There was a brief moment of shocked silence, because Zuko had just been proposed to. 

He’d have Sokka. He’d have his family. He’d still have Uncle and Lu Ten. He’d have everything. 

A wide grin slowly spread across Zuko’s face.

“Okay, I’ll marry you. And I’ll date you.” 

And before Sokka could respond, Zuko leaned forward and pressed his lips to Sokka’s. 

There was nose bumping and a bit of teeth clacking as they fell into rhythm with one another, but Zuko’s arms found their way around Sokka’s waist, and Sokka’s fingers found their way into Zuko’s hair. Both were smiling into the kiss, and the warmth was back in Zuko’s chest tenfold. 

They were so caught up in their kissing, they didn’t notice the moving guys open the door to the office. They also didn’t notice the guys stare at the two of them for a solid ten seconds before slowly closing the door. 

Another thing they didn’t notice: they were standing right in front of the floor to ceiling window in Zuko’s office. And everyone sitting in the cubicles outside the office was watching them. Some were cheering, some were filming, and some were passing bet money to each other. 

Zuko didn’t care. He had Sokka, and that was all he needed.

🜲 🜲

“So, let me get this straight. You two are getting married again, but you’re actually together this time?”

Zuko and Sokka sat on the other side of Zhao’s desk, fingers interlaced in the space between the chairs. 

“Yup!” Sokka said. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Zuko agreed. 

Zhao looked between the two men, his frown deepening. “You realize that if there is one singular slip up, you’re both done for?” 

“Yeah, we know,” Zuko shrugged. “I’m not worried though.” He pulled their joined hands up to press a kiss to the back of Sokka’s knuckles, and Sokka grinned. 

Zhao grinned as well, but it was a malicious grin. The grin of a predator finally catching a whiff of prey. Or maybe it was just Zhao being weird. 

“Well, let’s get started then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND HERE WE ARE AT THE END.. don't worry Sokka and Zuko pass Zhao's interrogation and Zuko gets to stay in the US
> 
> as far as what happens after this all gets settled? i imagine that about a week after the marriage visa is solid and Zuko is no longer at risk of deportation they go back to Alaska for a few days to kind of like. explain shit to all of the family friends and stuff. oh, and sokka gets his promotion (no longer works as Zuko's assistant) and has his meeting with iroh, and iroh ends up investing in some of his ideas and also strongly approves of his nephew's very intelligent boyfriend/husband. 
> 
> also i hc that after dating for a year or so they decide to get like. married married. but they're already legally married. so it's just like a cute ceremony also up in Alaska (and yes Kanna is still alive and well for it) 
> 
> overall, I really hope you guys enjoyed this random au idea that turned into literally so much more than i ever thought it would! all of your amazing comments really kept me going, so thank you :) 
> 
> hopefully i'll be getting some more atla fics out soon in the future so keep an eye out for those! i have a few ideas already written up so we'll see when i start posting something new ;) 
> 
> hmu on tumblr and yell at me about atla or zukka! @thatsnotrelevant   
> love you guys <3


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